One of the Smithsonian Institution's most distinguished honors – the National Air and Space Museum's Trophy – has been awarded to the team responsible for the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Established in 1985, the award recognizes outstanding achievement in scientific or technological endeavors relating to air and space.
Art Stephenson, director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., accepted the award on behalf of the Chandra team at a Nov. 9 ceremony at the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The team was recognized for its efforts in building, placing in orbit and operating the most sophisticated X-ray astronomical observatory ever built.
The Marshall Center manages the Chandra program for NASA.
Several organizations partner with NASA on the Chandra project. Flight operations, mission planning, data processing and user support are carried out at the Chandra X-ray Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass. Other partners include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the project's prime contractor, TRW.
For more information on NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, visit the Chandra site at: http://www.chandra.harvard.edu and http://chandra.nasa.gov