The NASA Distinguished Service Medal is the highest award that can be bestowed by the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the United States's civil space program, aeronautics research and space research. Established in 1958, it su ...

of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The medal may be presented to any member of the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

, including both military

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

s and civilian employees. The NASA Distinguished Service Medal is awarded to those who display distinguished service, ability, or courage, and have personally made a contribution representing substantial progress to the NASA mission. The contribution must be so extraordinary that other forms of recognition would be inadequate. Typical presentations of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal included awards to senior NASA administrators, mission control leaders, and astronauts who have completed several successful space flights. Due to the prestige of the award, the decoration is authorized for wear on active uniforms of the

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

. Another such authorized decoration is the NASA Space Flight Medal. Upon the recommendation of NASA, the president may award an even higher honor to astronauts, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. The medal was original awarded by the

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency that was founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its ...

and was inherited by NASA. The first NASA version (type I), featuring the

NASA seal The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

, was issued from 1959 until 1964, when it was replaced by the current type II medal (shown). Webb-nasa-distinguished-ser

Recipients

1959

* John W. Crowley, Jr., NASA Director of Aeronautical and Space Research

1961

Alan Shepard Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he became the List of Apollo astronauts#Apollo astr ...

(May 8) * Virgil I. Grissom (July 22)

1962

John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space and the first to orbit the Earth, circling it three times in 1 ...

* Robert Gilruth * Scott Carpenter *

Wally Schirra Walter Marty Schirra Jr. ( ; March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007) was an American naval aviator (United States), naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. In 1959, he became one of the Mercury Seven, original seven astronauts chosen for Pro ...

(October 15) * Forrest S. Petersen,

X-15 The North American X-15 is a Hypersonic speed, hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft which was operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the List of X-planes, X-plane series of ...

pilot * Robert White, X-15 pilot * Joseph A. Walker, X-15 pilot * Walter C. Williams

1963

* Gordon Cooper

1965

(December 30) (second award)

1968

* James Webb * Alexander Flax

1969

1970

* Edwin E. Aldrin * Neil A. Armstrong * Alan L. Bean * Michael Collins * Charles Conrad * Richard F. Gordon * Fred W. Haise * James A. Lovell (second award) * Thomas O. Paine * John L. Swigert

1971

* Charles J. Donlan * James B. Irwin * Vincent L. Johnson * Walter J. Kapryan *

Eugene F. Kranz Eugene Francis Kranz (born August 17, 1933) is an American aerospace engineer who served as NASA's second Flight controller#Flight director, Chief Flight Director, directing missions of the Project Mercury, Mercury, Project Gemini, Gemini, and ...

* Bruce T. Lundin * Glynn S. Lunney * James A. McDivitt *

Edgar D. Mitchell Edgar Dean "Ed" Mitchell (September 17, 1930 – February 4, 2016) was a United States Navy officer and United States Naval Aviator, aviator, test pilot, Aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineer, Ufology, ufologist, and NASA astronaut. ...

* Bernard Moritz * Dale D. Myers * Oran W. Nicks * Stuart A. Roosa * David R. Scott (second award) * Alan B. Shepard (second award) * Sigurd A. Sjoberg * John W. Townsend * Alfred M. Worden

1972

* Charles M. Duke * Paul Werner Gast * William R. Lucas * Hans M. Mark * Thomas K. Mattingly * Richard C. McCurdy * William T. Pecora * Dan Schneiderman * John W. Young (second award)

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1980

* William H. Bayley

1981

* Robert L. Crippen * Paul C. Donnelly *Howard S. Hardcastle * James B. Odom * Andrew J. Stofan * John F. Yardley * Walter C. Williams (second award)

1984

* Robert O. Aller

1988

* Willis H. Shapley (second award)

1991

* John R. Casani

1992

* Berrien Moore III * Mark Albrecht *

Story Musgrave Franklin Story Musgrave (born August 19, 1935) is an American physician and a retired NASA astronaut. He is a public speaker and consultant to both Disney's Imagineering group and Applied Minds in California. In 1996, he became only the second a ...

1994

* Joseph H Rothenberg

1995

* Dr. Charles J. Pellerin * Bill G. Aldridge

1996

* Gerald M. Smith * William J. O'Neil

1997

* Jerome Apt

2000

* Joseph H Rothenberg

2001

* Jack Brooks *

Claude Nicollier Claude Nicollier (born 2 September 1944) is the first astronaut from Switzerland. He has flown on four Space Shuttle missions. His first spaceflight ( STS-46) was in 1992, and his final spaceflight ( STS-103) was in 1999. He took part in two serv ...

* Courtney Stadd * James S. Voss * Joseph Philip Loftus

2002

* Scott E. Parazynski

2004

Kalpana Chawla Kalpana Chawla (March 17, 1962 – February 1, 2003) was an American astronaut and aerospace engineer who was the first woman of Indian origin to fly to space. Chawla expressed an interest in aerospace engineering from an early age and took engi ...

* William McCool * Axel Roth * Brock "Randy" Stone * Lott W. Brantley Jr. * G. Scott Hubbard * Edward T. Lu

2005

* Firouz Naderi

2006

* Eileen M. Collins

2007

* Douglas Hendriksen

2008

Walter Cunningham Ronnie Walter Cunningham (March 16, 1932 – January 3, 2023) was an American astronaut, fighter pilot, physicist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and author of the 1977 book ''The All-American Boys''. NASA's third civilian astronaut (after N ...

Donn Eisele Donn Fulton Eisele (June 23, 1930 – December 1, 1987) (Colonel USAF) was a United States Air Force officer, test pilot, and later a NASA astronaut. He served as command module pilot for the Apollo 7 mission in 1968. After retiring from ...

* Fuk Li * Walter Schirra (Third Award) * E. Myles Standish * Richard Sunseri

2009

* Christopher Scolese * Stephanie D. Wilson

2010

2011

2012

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

References

External links

NASA awards

(1969–1978)
List of NASA medal recipients
{{NASA decorations Awards and decorations of NASA Awards established in 1959 *