NASA Astronauts Award Draper Engineer Prestigious Silver Snoopy

CAMBRIDGE, MA – Craig Schulenberg, Senior Member of the NASA Flight Software Design team at Draper, was presented with the Space Flight Awareness (SFA) Silver Snoopy award at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) annual awards ceremony on July 21, 2016. Schulenberg was recognized for his contributions to the success and flight safety of the Space Launch System (SLS) Program, which is developing the launch vehicle for the Orion spacecraft, tasked with carrying astronauts to deep space.

The SFA Program is a NASA-managed motivational and recognition program with invited representation from NASA and contractors having major responsibilities for human spaceflight mission success. The Silver Snoopy award, known as the Astronauts’ Personal Achievement Award, recognizes “professionalism, dedication, and outstanding support that greatly enhanced space flight safety and mission success.” On behalf of the astronaut team, Astronaut Andrew Morgan presented Schulenberg with a sterling Silver Snoopy pin that was flown aboard EFT-1—the first unmanned flight test of Orion in 2014—as well as a signed certificate of appreciation and a commendation letter.

For SLS, Draper is developing flight software; guidance, navigation and control systems; and avionics systems. Schulenberg was recognized for his contribution to developing the SLS flight software. Schulenberg’s developments and contributions were instrumental in creating program modifications that increased quality, reliability, safety, efficiency and performance. Fewer than 1% of the aerospace program workforce receives the Silver Snoopy award.

In the commendation letter, Morgan writes, “We in the flight end of the business know that success on our space flight missions will be measured by the performance of individuals like you. The exceptional manner in which you carry out your responsibilities exceeds normal requirements and demonstrates pride in your work.”

Draper continues to support development of the SLS. The first launch of SLS, which will launch an uncrewed Orion on its first exploration mission around Earth’s moon, is projected for the autumn of 2018.