Carl Sagan Memorial Award Presented to Scott Hubbard

For Immediate Release
November 13, 2006

Contact
Mat Kaplan
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1-626-793-5100

The American Astronautical Society, in cooperation with The Planetary Society, will present G. Scott Hubbard with the Carl Sagan Memorial Award on Tuesday, November 14, 2006.

Named for The Planetary Society's co-founder, the Carl Sagan Memorial Award is presented annually to a person who has demonstrated leadership in research or policies advancing exploration of the Cosmos.

"Scott Hubbard is a brilliant engineer and manager with a real vision for space exploration," said Louis Friedman, Executive Director of The Planetary Society.

Hubbard holds the Carl Sagan Chair for the Study of Life in the Universe at the SETI Institute. Prior to becoming Director of the NASA Ames Research Center in 2000, Hubbard served as NASA's "Mars Czar" in the 1990s. The Mars Czar, appointed by Dan Goldin, was the informal name given to the Director of the Mars Program at NASA Headquarters that sought to advance both robotic and human exploration of Mars. Hubbard also served as the first director of NASA's Astrobiology Institute. He was the Mission Manager of the successful Lunar Prospector project and a member of the shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

Friedman noted that this past week was the anniversary of Carl Sagan's birthday (November 9, 1934) and that next month will mark the tenth anniversary of his death. "Carl provided NASA with a vision of what accomplishments in space exploration would mean to the world. Scott helped provide many of the accomplishments in the vision, and I know Carl would have been both proud and honored by his selection for the Sagan Award," Friedman said.

Bruce Murray, co-founder of The Planetary Society and a former director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was the first recipient of the Carl Sagan Memorial Award in 1997. Additional award recipients include Wesley Huntress, President of The Planetary Society; Edward Stone; Arnauld Nicogossian; Edward Weiler; Roald Sagdeev; Michael Malin; Steven Squyres and the Athena Team; and California and the Carnegie Planet Search Team - Geoffrey Marcy, Steven Vogt, Paul Butler and Debra Fischer.

Hubbard will present the Carl Sagan Memorial Lecture and receive his award on November 14 at the American Astronautical Society National Conference and 53rd Annual Meeting, held in Pasadena, California at the Hilton Hotel, 150 South Los Robles. The 2006 conference is entitled "The Human + Machine Equation" and takes place November 14-15.

About The Planetary Society

With a global community of more than 2 million space enthusiasts, The Planetary Society is the world’s largest and most influential space advocacy organization. Founded in 1980 by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray, and Louis Friedman and today led by CEO Bill Nye, we empower the public to take a meaningful role in advancing space exploration through advocacy, education outreach, scientific innovation, and global collaboration. Together with our members and supporters, we’re on a mission to explore worlds, find life off Earth, and protect our planet from dangerous asteroids. To learn more, visit www.planetary.org.

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