The National Space Club Florida Committee is one of three regional committees of the National Space Club in Washington, D.C. We provide information on space activities through monthly luncheons, promoting space leadership, stimulating advancement of space applications, sponsoring educational activities, and providing recognition for contributions to advancements in aerospace science, operations, research, and education.

2010 Lifetime Achievement Honorees: John T. Conway, Timothy H. Hanrahan, Warren Lackie

Click here to view photos from the past Lifetime Achievement Awards luncheon.

John T. Conway

John Conway spent 34 years with NASA, retiring in 1996 as director of payload processing at the Kennedy Space Center. He has spent the past nine years as an industry consultant, remaining active in the space community. He earned a B.S. from Florida State University in 1962 and a M.A. from the College of William & Mary in 1965, both in Mathematics. John and his wife, Tammy, have two grown children and one grandchild. They split their time between homes in Merritt Island and Boyd’s Creek, TN.

Timothy H. Hanrahan

Tim Hanrahan’s career spanned nearly 40 years, initially with the U.S. Army at White Sands during the early 1950s, and then for 33 years with The Aerospace Corporation in support of the nation’s space programs from their inception through system design, acquisition and launch processing operations before retiring in 1996. He earned a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Notre Dame in 1950. Tim and his wife, Pat, reside in Satellite Beach. They have four children and eight grandchildren.

Warren Lackie

Warren Lackie Warren Lackie was with NASA for 32 years working the integration of ground and flight systems during Apollo and retiring in 1997. He worked as a consultant through 2006 before joining ASRC Aerospace. Warren also is active with the Space Walk of Fame. He earned a B.S. in 1966 and an M.S. in 1970, both in Space Technology from the Florida Institute of Technology. Warren and his wife, Pam, have two grown children and reside in the same Eau Gallie-area home they moved to in 1964.

About the Lifetime Achievment Award The National Space NSCFL Florida Committee each year recognizes one to three people for life-long achievement and contributions to the U.S. space program. Nominees come from government, military, commercial or government contractor organizations. They may be retired or currently employed in continuous service for a substantial period

Nomination and Selection Guidelines

  1. The nominee must have made significant contributions to the space industry in Florida through either technical achievement, education, or the management of aerospace related activities.
  2. The nominee must have been retired from an active working career for more than a year since the most recently conferred Lifetime Achievement Award.
  3. The nominee must be recognized for having been an advocate and supporter of space.
  4. Individuals who have previously received a Debus Award are not eligible.
Submit a written nomination for the Lifetime Achievment Award to either:
The National Space Club Florida
PO Box 21243
Kennedy Space Center, Florida 32815-0243

or info@nscfl.org

Past Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

1992 Bob Gray and Walt Kapryan
Both Gray and Kapryan were associated with NASA. Gray was a long-time director of Expendable Launch Vehicle operations. Kapryan was an Apollo launch director.
1993 Ike Rigell
Rigell was associated with NASA and USBI and was best known for being a chief engineer working on Apollo-Saturn.
1994 Al Martin and Harry Kolcum
Martin was associated with Rockwell working on the second stage of the Saturn 5 rocket and was later Shuttle Chief Engineer. Kolcum was associated with Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine and was a respected aerospace writer.
1995 Paul Donnelly and Buck Buchanan
Donnelly was associated with NASA and USBI serving as a launch director. Buchanan was associated with NASA and is best known for managing the construction of Launch Complex 39.
1996 No Award Was Given
1997 George English, Merritt Preston and Peter Hoffman-Heyden
English was with NASA and served as senior executive to six KSC Center Directors. Preston, also with NASA, ran the Manned Spaceflight Program at KSC. Hoffman-Heyden was with RCA and is considered a Radar and Range Systems pioneer.
1998 Tom O'Malley and Pat Yount
O'Malley was with General Dynamics and Rockwell, serving as a senior executive from Project Mercury through to the Space Shuttle. Yount was with Chrysler, managing launch operations for the Redstone, Saturn 1 and Saturn 1B rockets.
1999 Norm Carlson and Cal Fowler
Carlson was a launch operations manager for NASA's manned programs, while Fowler was with General Dynamics and General Electric, working in management on vehicles ranging from Atlas to the Shuttle.
2000 Andy Pickett and George Skurla
Picket was a senior NASA manager working in launch operations, while Skurla was with Grumman managing the effort to build the Apollo Lunar Module. He later became Grumman's CEO.
2001 Russell Barnes, Horace Lamberth and Maj. Gen. Jimmey Morrell
Russell Barnes was associated with Pan Am as a senior executive working on the Eastern Range for 47 years. Lamberth was with NASA and Lockheed working in shuttle engineering. Morrell was with the Air Force working on military space programs and was the first commander of the 45th Space Wing.
2002 Silas "Sy" Baker, John Tribe and Tom Utsman
Baker was a 38-year veteran of Atlas launch operations at Cape Canaveral. John Tribe was chief engineer of launch support services working on the Space Shuttle program at KSC. Utsman was a 34-year veteran NASA manager, working here at KSC and in Washington.
2003 John Neilon, Orion Reed and James Schofield
Neilon worked 39 years for the federal government working on cargo and expendable launch vehicles. Reed spent 40 years with General Dynamics working on Atlas and Titan rockets. Schofield worked for 42 years with McDonnell Douglas an Boeing, mostly on payload operations.
2004 John Mansur, Charlie Mars and Tom Brown
2005 James Harrington, Lou Ullian and Al Bruckner
2006 Sam Beddingfield, Francis Shill and J. Tal Webb
Shill, an experienced government contractor who worked on the Eastern Range for more than 40 years. Beddingfield retired from NASA in 1985 after a 26-year career with the nation’s space agency.  Webb, a veteran aerospace manager with 39 years of experience that allowed him to work on every U.S. manned space program from Project Mercury to the Space Shuttle.
2007 Jay Honeycutt, Charlie Murphy, and Norris Gray
Norris C. ‘Chief’ Gray, retired since 1984 following 35 years at the Space Coast, still serves as a NASA Public Affairs Volunteer completing almost 60 years of involvement in rocket launching activities. Gray’s space program involvement began during his decorated World War II military career receiving the Presidential Citation and eight battle stars. During his deployment in the Hertz Mountains in Germany, Gray was actively involved in securing the safe capture of V2 missiles, the forerunners of the eventual US space program. After working at MacDill AFB and Anniston Ordnance Depot, Gray’s Space Coast career began in 1949, at the Joint Long Range Proving Ground and then to the Cape Canaveral Missile Annex as Fire Chief and Emergency Preparedness Officer. He was actively involved in the launch of the first rocket from Cape Canaveral in July 1950 - the V2 Bumper and all subsequent launch activities from the Cape. In 1963, Gray joined NASA as the Fire Protection/Safety and Rescue Officer and supported Apollo and Shuttle launches including all offsite contingency landing preparations until his retirement. Gray was raised in Tampa and attended Brewster College.

Jay Honeycutt’s career has spanned almost the entire history of the U.S. human space flight program. Retired from a program vice president position at Lockheed Martin in 2004, he served as center director of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) from 1995 until 1997. His NASA career began at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in 1966 as an engineer in Flight Operations for the Apollo Program. In 1981, Honeycutt was the technical assistant to the Associate Administrator for the Space Transportation System, NASA Headquarters. He then served in management positions in the Space Shuttle Program Office at JSC until 1989 when he was named director of KSC Shuttle Management and Operations until becoming center director at KSC. Honeycutt has received numerous awards including the Exceptional Service Medal, two Special Achievement Awards, two NASA Outstanding Leadership Medals, NASA Exceptional Service Medal, NASA Equal Employment Opportunity Award, and Meritorious Executive Presidential Rank Award. A graduate from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, Honeycutt received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.

Charles W. ‘Charlie’ Murphy, recently retired senior executive of United Space Alliance, is a 48 year veteran of aerospace launch operations. He served critical roles on the XSM-64 Navaho Program; the Titan, Atlas and Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Programs; the S-II stage of the Saturn V; the Apollo Command and Service Module; and the Space Shuttle. On Shuttle he directed Launch and Landing Operations and all Orbiter logistics. Murphy’s awards include two NASA Public Service Medals, the NMA Silver Knight of Management in 1988, and the Stellar Award from the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement that was awarded to him in 2000. He holds a bachelor’s of science degree in mechanical engineering from the Indiana Institute of Technology and a master’s of science degree in management science from the Florida Institute of Technology.
2008 William Heink, Dr. Al Koller, and Harold Zweigbaum

Dr. Albert M. Koller, Jr., began his aerospace career directly out of Titusville High School in 1959 as a technician working summers for the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) at its Missile Firing Lab on Cape Canaveral .  When the ABMA team led by Dr. Wernher Von Braun was transferred to NASA in 1960, he was assigned to the Launch Vehicle Operations (LVO) Directorate.  He continued to return each summer while completing his BA degree in math and physics, then returned to KSC/LVO where he worked under the direction of Dr. Hans Gruene, Director for Launch Vehicle Operations throughout the Mercury, Apollo, Skylab, and ASTP programs.

While at NASA, Koller led the team who developed the Center’s Environmental Impact Statement for the Space Shuttle and NASA’s expendable vehicles at the Cape , and served as the Biomedical Program Manager and Environmental Health Officer for nearly ten years. During his NASA career he earned a Master’s Degree in Systems Management and his Doctorate in Management and Quantitative Methods from Florida State University , and was active in TQM implementation for both NASA and its contractors until he retired in 1992 to pursue a lifelong commitment to education.

During his fifteen year career at Brevard Community College , Koller founded SpaceTEC, implementing the national certification for aerospace technicians and achieving the acceptance of the SpaceTEC certification by NASA, the FAA, the Air Force, the Navy, the Veterans’ Administration, and the American Council on Education.

Koller has taught at several universities, consults for private and public organizations, and is nationally published in the technical and management fields, as well as in international education. He is the 2001 recipient of the Florida Space Business Roundtable’s “Explorer Award” for his leadership in space-related education and has twice been featured in Florida Trend magazine. 

William A. (Bill) Heink retired in 2000 as the site director for Boeing Reusable Space Systems, Florida Operations. As site director, Heink was responsible for leading space shuttle launch services and launch processing for the United States Air Force (USAF) Navstar Global Positioning System satellites. This position concluded a long illustrious career in aerospace starting with Convair Astronautics in 1962 at Vandenburg AFB, San Diego

In 1965 Heink moved to Boeing where he supported all the Apollo, Skylab and ASTP launches as an electrical engineer in the liquid oxygen control systems on Launch Complex 39. Following an offsite assignment on the Minuteman program, Heink was selected as the Minuteman Professional Employee of the Year. He served on the Cape as a supervisor of the shuttle main propulsion system and then as manager of the electrical and communications group.

Heink’s work on the first 10 shuttle flights garnered him the Astronauts’ Silver Snoopy. In 1984, with the advent of the Shuttle Processing Contract he led the Rockwell Launch Support Services electrical systems groups through the next 56 launches before becoming the director of orbiter engineering and subsequently site director.

Heink has been active in the National Management Association where he held all four national board positions including Chairman of the Board in 1995 and in 1999 he received the Gold Knight of Management. A graduate of the University of Wyoming with a bachelor of science in electrical engineering, Heink has been recognized as a distinguished alumna and currently serves on their Engineering Advisory Board.

Dr. James (Jim) W. Johnson, Gerald T. Oppliger, and Gerald T. Oppliger
Dr. James (Jim) W. Johnsonn has served the space program since 1955 through his distinguished career at NASA and his lifelong service to community in several educational and public sector arenas. Following his retirement from NASA in 1995 as deputy manager of the Russian Integration Office, Johnson has remained active in the space community serving in key leadership positions with the Canaveral Council of Technical Societies (CCTS), Space Congress, NASA Alumni League and Brevard Space Week. He has also received numerous awards including the NASA Medal for Exceptional Service, which he received on two separate occasions.

After his 1955 graduation from the University of Miami, Johnson’s first association with the space and missile business was with the Boeing Company where he working on the Bomarc and Minuteman programs. In 1961 he transferred to NASA working with KSC’s Unmanned Launch Operations and the Goddard Launch Operations where he served as lead spacecraft coordinator on numerous projects including the interplanetary Pioneers 10 and 11. During the Space Shuttle era, Johnson was involved in integrating future payloads into the Shuttle and served on the Washington-based Space Station Task Force. Returning to KSC he was named deputy manager of the Space Station Program Office. In 1989 he was named manager of the NASA Liaison Office in Ottawa, coordinating between the Canadian Space Agency and NASA on the development of several Canadian contributions to the International Space Station. In 1992 Johnson returned to the US and served as deputy manager of the Projects Integration Office for the Space Station until he was named deputy manager of the Russian Integration Office, where he served until his retirement from NASA.

Johnson received his master’s degree from Florida State and a Doctorate in Business Administration from Nova University. He was nominated by NASA to the prestigious Sloan Fellowship program at Stanford University, completing the program in 1969. He serves on the adjunct faculty of Nova Southeastern University and Florida Institute of Technology. Johnson served with the US Air Force and remained as a reserve officer until his retirement in 1990.

Gerald T. Oppliger has served the US Space Program for 50 years starting as a project engineer with Sperry Utah in 1959 to his long service as President of Lockheed Space Operations Company (LMSO) at KSC from 1991-1997.

In the late 1950’s he served on the Army’s Sergeant Missile, which was one of our country’s early missile systems. During the 1960’s he was involved in technology design that was the basis for the Solid Propellant Motors for the Titan Missile System and for the Solid Propellant Rocket Motors for the Apollo Launch Escape System. He was project engineer for the first 156-inch diameter solid propellant rocket motor and that technology became the solid propellant boosters for the Space Shuttle. Oppliger was chief project and manufacturing engineer for the first solid propellant pulse motor, which was the booster and sustain motor for the Air Force short range attack missile. He served as manufacturing director for production of solid rocket motors for the improved HAWK Harpoon, Standard Missile, Sparrow, Shrike and Sidewinder Missile Systems.

During the 1980’s Oppliger served as executive vice president and program manager for the final construction and checkout of the Space Shuttle Launch Facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base. He later served as LMSO president for the Shuttle Processing Contract to process and launch the Space Shuttle fleet under contract to NASA.

Oppliger received a Bachelor of Science Degree from Kansas State University, a Master of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southern California and is a graduate of the Lockheed Business Management Institute at the University of Santa Clara. His recognitions include induction into the Kansas State University College of Engineering Hall of Fame, Gold Knight Management Award with the National Management Association and NASA Public Service Award.

Guenter F. Wendt, a space industry legend, has served on every spacecraft close-out crew from the launch of the monkey “Ham” until his retirement in 1989. A confidant and personal friend of most of the astronauts, Guenter has received NASA’s Letter of Appreciation Award, several Group Achievement Awards and the Silver Snoopy.

Born and educated in Germany, Wendt came to the US in 1949 and became an American citizen in 1955. Working as a mechanical engineer for McDonnell Aircraft, he was given primary responsibility for spacecraft test, checkout and launch operations for all Mercury and Gemini manned flights. After the 1967 Apollo 1, the astronauts maneuvered to transfer Wendt to North American Rockwell, where he resumed his duties as "Pad Fuhrer". He was responsible for spacecraft launch preparations for all manned Apollo, Skylab and ASTP flights and was the last man seen by the flight crews prior to liftoff.

Guenter was in charge of flight crew safety during the Shuttle ALT program and during the subsequent operational flights of the Shuttle Transport System until his retirement. He has worked on numerous film and video projects and served as technical consultant on the television adaptation of James A. Michener’s “Space”, the HBO mini-series “From the Earth to the Moon”, and the Discovery Channel’s documentary “In Search of Liberty Bell 7”. In 2001 Apogee Books published his memoirs, The Unbroken Chain. Residing in Merritt Island, Wendt is frequently consulted for historical productions and remains active as a space advocate.