# List of Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Memorial Award winners

The Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Memorial Award was established in 1960 to honor Nelson P. Jackson, a founder and first president of the National Space Club. This award is the club’s second most prestigious honor and it recognizes outstanding contributions to advancements in the missile, aircraft, and space fields.
Described by NASA as “the space world's equivalent of an Academy Award" it is presented annually by the National Space Club during the Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner in Washington, D.C.
Nelson P. Jackson was a highly decorated Air Force colonel, involved in the military atomic energy program, and had served with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was also a prominent D.C. attorney and the D.C. manager for GE's Atomic Energy Division.
The National Space Club is the premier non-profit organization dedicated to advancing space leadership, technology, and education in the United States. Bringing together industry leaders, government officials, educators, and private individuals, the club fosters collaboration in astronautics and ensures that critical space-related information is shared with the public.

## List of Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Memorial Award winners

Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Memorial Winners :
| Year | Company/Organization | Image | Achievement |
| 1960 | Bell Aerospace Company, Douglas Aircraft Company, General Electric | | For development of the Discoverer Satellite |
| 1961 | Rocketdyne, Bell Aerosystems, Douglas Aircraft, GE, and Lockheed Corp. | TIROS VI satellite | Discoverer 13, developed the first recovery of a vehicle from space (August 11, 1960). |
| 1962 | RCA - Astro-Electronics Division | TIROS VI satellite | Designed and constructed the Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS). |
| 1963 | AT&T | TIROS VI satellite | Developed the Telstar communications satellite. |
| 1964 | McDonnell Aircraft and General Dynamics | TIROS VI satellite | Developed the Project Mercury capsule (McDonnell) and Atlas booster rocket (General Dynamics). |
| 1965 | Pratt & Whitney | | Demonstrated the technical feasibility of liquid hydrogen as the next high-energy fuel for space exploration. |
| 1966 | NASA, U.S. Air Force, Aerojet, GE, IBM, Westinghouse | | Recognized all teams responsible for the five successful manned flights in Project Gemini. |
| 1967 | Boeing | | Developed the Lunar Orbiter program. |
| 1968 | Hughes Aircraft | | Developed the Surveyor spacecraft that soft-landed on the Moon. |
| 1969 | Rocketdyne, North American Rockwell | | Developed the Lunar Module ascent engine. |
| 1970 | The Grumman Corporation | | |
| 1971 | NOAA Space Technology Team | | For Advancement in space research goals. |
| 1972 | Boeing | | Designed the Lunar Rover. |
| 1973 | General Electric | | |
| 1974 | NASA Ames-TRW Systems Pioneer 10 Team | | NASA Pioneer 10 space probe that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter |
| 1975 | NASA-Fairchild Industries and the ATS-6 Team | | For the ATS-6, the world's first educational satellite |
| 1976 | The Delta Launch Vehicle Team of NASA and McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company | | For developing the Delta Launch Vehicle rocket-powered expendable launch systems |
| 1977 | Denver Division of Martin Marietta Aerospace | | For its superb technical achievement in successfully operating two spacecraft on the planet Mars with the Viking Program. |
| 1978 | TRW | | Work on the High Energy Astronomy Observatory. |
| 1979 | Hughes Aircraft | | Pioneer Venus project mission. |
| 1980 | The JPL/Industry Team | | |
| 1981 | The NASA/Industry Centaur Team: Convair Divison of General Dynamics Corp.; Honeywell, Inc.; NASA/Lewis Research Center; Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Group, United Technologies Corporation; Teledyne Systems Company | | For the development of the Centaur rocket stage. |
| 1982 | The Industrial Team led by Rockwell International Corporation under NASA leadership | | |
| 1983 | McDonnell Douglas | | Developed the Payload Assist Module (PAM). |
| 1984 | Ball Corp. | | Built the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS). |
| 1985 | Martin Marietta Aerospace | | |
| 1986 | The JSC-Hughes Corp. LEASAT Salvage Team | | for first satellites to be designed for launch from the Space Shuttle payload bay |
| 1987 | JPL and the Voyager Industry Project Team | | Contributions to the Voyager Project. |
| 1988 | NASA | | For the High Energy Astronomy Observatory Program HEAO |
| 1989 | Delta 181 Mission Team, McDonnell Douglas | | For the Delta 181 Mission, Thrust Vector Experiment |
| 1990 | NASA/JPL Government-Industry Voyager Telemetry Array Team | | For the Voyager Telemetry Array, the system of antennas and equipment used on Earth to receive and process telemetry data from the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft |
| 1991 | NASA and the Goddard Space Flight Center | | For the Hubble Space Telescope |
| 1992 | NASA/TRW team | | For the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory |
| 1993 | NASA | | Hubble Telescope Repair Mission. |
| 1994 | | | |
| 1995 | The Clementine team, Naval Research Lab. | | For the Clementine spacecraft design, that was used to build the most comprehensive, multispectral geologic lunar map to date." |
| 1996 | US Air Force and Lockheed Martin | | For designing, building, and launching the Milstar satellite communication system |
| 1997 | | | |
| 1998 | | | |
| 1999 | | | |
| 2000 | NASA and JPL | | For the Galileo spacecraft |
| 2001 | TRW Systems Group with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center | | For the Chandra X-ray Observatory |
| 2002 | The Aqua Science Team and NASA | | For the Aqua satellite |
| 2003 | NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and Northrop Grumman Corporation | | For the orbit success of NASA's Aqua Earth Observing System (EOS), Aqua satellite |
| 2004 | Goddard Space Flight Center and Northrop Grumman | | For work on the TDRSS Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System and the Space Network. |
| 2005 | | | |
| 2006 | The Cassini-Huygens probe team | | For The Cassini-Huygens probe, a space probe sent to study the planet Saturn and its system, including its rings and natural satellites. |
| 2007 | Lockheed Martin and the University of Washington | | For the Stardust spacecraft and the identification of possible interstellar dust particles from the capsule's return to Earth in 2006 |
| 2008 | | | |
| 2009 | The MESSENGER team | | For developing the NASA robotic space probe MESSENGER that orbited the planet Mercury |
| 2010 | Boeing | | For fielding the first three Wideband Global SATCOM spacecraft |
| 2011 | Boeing | | For the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Program |
| 2012 | JPL, Mars Curiosity Mission Team | | For the Mars Curiosity rover |
| 2013 | The Mars Science Laboratory Team | | Recognized for its significance in successfully landing on and exploring the Martian surface. |
| 2014 | Boeing's X-51A WaveRider Team | | For the unmanned X-51A WaveRider autonomous flight demonstrator that is "leading the way to hypersonic flight." |
| 2015 | The Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) team with MIT Lincoln Laboratory | | For the Lunar Laser Communication System |
| 2016 | Dawn project team and NASA | | For the Dawn spacecraft, the first mission to orbit two extraterrestrial targets and the first to encounter a dwarf planet. |
| 2017 | Juno Mission Team, Lockheed Martin | | For the Juno spacecraft mission |
| 2018 | U.S. Military and Industry Team | | For the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) System |
| 2019 | Delta II Rocket Team | | For 29 years of the success with the Delta II rocket program |
| 2020 | The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration Team | TIROS VI satellite | For significantly contributing to our knowledge base with the first picture of a Black Hole with Event Horizon Telescope |
| 2021 | Parker Solar Probe Team | | Efforts to untangle the long-standing mysteries of the complex solar environment with the Parker Solar Probe. |
| 2022 | The Center for Near-Earth Object Studies Team | | For the Sentry-II, asteroid monitoring system |
| 2023 | John Hopkin, Applied Physics Laboratory APL | | Double Asteroid Redirection Test DART mission. |
| 2024 | Artemis I Team | | Recognized for the historic Artemis I launch. |
| 2025 | SpaceX | | For achieving the first-ever “catch” of a returning space booster with the SpaceX Super Heavy. |