Contact:

Susan M. Hendrix
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone: 301/286-7745)

October 05, 2004 - Release 04-057

HUBBLE SCIENTIST PART OF TEAM TO RECEIVE IAA AWARD

Dr. Bruce Woodgate at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. is one of 25 people selected to receive the International Academy of Astronautics' (IAA) 2004 Laurels for Team Achievement Award.

"I am very pleased to receive this award on behalf of my team," said Woodgate, Senior Astrophysicist in the Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics at Goddard. His team built Hubble's spectrograph, which successfully operated for more than seven years.

The IAA Laurels for Team Achievement award was presented to the Hubble Space Telescope Team October 3 in Vancouver. In part, the citation reads, "From its spectacular launch and dramatic repair and upgrades to its regular revelations about our Universe, Hubble has captured the public's imagination and provided the scientific community with a tool of unprecedented discovery…."

Woodgate has worked at Goddard for 29 years, and his academic credentials include a bachelor's in Physics and a doctorate in Astronomy from the University of London. He is married to wife Patricia and has two daughters, Catherine, who lives with her husband in Columbia, Md., and Nina, who lives with her husband and two children in the Netherlands.

Theodore Von Karmen founded the IAA in 1960 by during the 11th International Astronautical Congress in Stockholm, Sweden. Its main focus is to foster development of astronautics for peaceful purposes, recognize individuals who distinguish themselves in a related branch of science or technology, provide a program whereby members can contribute to international endeavors, and cooperate in the advancement of aerospace science.

Previous IAA Laurels for Team Achievement Awardees include the Russian Mir Space Station team; the U.S. Space Shuttle team; and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory team.

For more information about NASA and the Hubble Space Telescope, visit: www.nasa.gov