NASA News
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
John C. Stennis Space Center
(228) 688-3341 Aug. 12, 2004
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000
STS-04-068
NASA Public Affairs Office FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (228) 688-3341
CHIEF MARTIN AWARDED NASA PUBLIC SERVICE MEDAL HANCOCK COUNTY, Miss. – Phillip Martin, elected Tribal Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (MBCI), today has been awarded NASA’s prestigious Public Service Medal during a ceremony held at NASA Stennis Space Center (SSC) near Bay St. Louis.
The NASA Public Service Medal is given to an individual who is not a government employee during the period a service is performed. It recognizes exceptional contributions to NASA’s mission.
SSC Center Director Adm. Thomas Q. Donaldson V (USN, Ret.) and NASA Associate Administrator of the Space Operations Mission Directorate William F. Readdy presented the medal to Martin.
Martin is currently serving his seventh consecutive four-year term as MBCI chief of the tribe of 9,100 enrolled members in east central Mississippi. He was given the award for his strong leadership and support for education as the pathway to success resulting in the implementation of numerous NASA educational programs – including Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) and For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) – in the MBCI School System.
In GLOBE, students gather data that is submitted for compilation internationally to monitor the climatic condition of the Earth.
FIRST is a national program established to let students interact with engineers and to encourage them to pursue careers in math, science and technology. The MBCI High School has the only Native American robotics team in the FIRST program.
Martin’s dedication to bettering education for American Indians is recognized nationally. He signed the Education Space Act Agreement with NASA in 1995 and has served as an ambassador for NASA’s educational programs. He has helped NASA reach a large segment of this underrepresented population of half a million school-age children among the 562 federally recognized American Indian tribes in the United States.
SSC, America’s largest rocket test complex, is NASA’s program manager for rocket propulsion testing and home to NASA’s Earth Science Applications Directorate.
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News releases provided by NASA’s Stennis Space Center are available at https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ssc/news/newsreleases/2004. For more information, call the NASA Public Affairs Office at Stennis at 1-800-237-1821 in Mississippi and Louisiana only, or (228) 688-3341.
2004 News Releases