NASA Honors Draper Engineer for Space Launch System Work
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- NASA honored Jeb Orr, a Draper Laboratory engineer, with its top engineering award for his contribution to the Space Launch System (SLS), which is intended to enable human exploration of the universe beyond Earth orbit.
Orr received the Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal during a July 30 ceremony at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.Orr leads Draper’s work in flight mechanics and control system design for SLS, where he has developed novel approaches to analyzing and optimizing the performance of the control system during SLS's critical eight-minute ascent into space.
Orr's contributions as a member of the Marshall SLS team include new methods to accurately predict how the rocket's flexible structure and liquid propellants interact with the on-board sensors and software during flight.
The Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal is awarded for contributions that have fundamental importance to the engineering field, significantly enhanced understanding of this field, or have significantly advanced the state of the practice as demonstrated by an application to aerospace systems, according to NASA’s website. Honorees have accomplishments that “are far above others in quality, scope, and impact,” according to the website.