Ray Castillo
Headquarters, Washington, DC                                                            
September 24, 1998
(Phone:  202/358-4555)

RELEASE:  98-171

NASA HISTORY WINS PRESTIGIOUS PRIZE

     The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) has 
selected "Walking to Olympus:  An EVA Chronology," written by 
David S. Portree and Robert C. Trevino and published by NASA, 
as the winner of the 1998 Luigi Napolitano Book Award.  The 
award will be presented in Melbourne, Australia, on Sept. 27, 
during the 1998 IAA award dinner. 

     This monograph was produced through the auspices of the 
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Office at NASA's Johnson Space 
Center, Houston, TX.  Portree, an historian, and Trevino, an 
engineer working in advanced EVA programs, collaborated on 
this chronology, which is envisioned as the first part of a 
larger effort to document the history of space walking.  As 
NASA gets closer to the first launch in the assembly sequence 
of the International Space Station, this monograph is timely 
in showing what past EVAs have accomplished and what hurdles 
had to be surmounted to carry them out.

     This is the seventh publication in a new series of 
special studies prepared by the NASA History Office, a 
division of the Office of Policy and Plans.  The Monographs 
in Aerospace History series examines a wide variety of topics 
in the history of aeronautics and space.  These publications 
are tightly focused, relatively short, and reproduced in an 
inexpensive format to allow timely and broad dissemination.  
Suggestions for additional publications in the Monographs in 
Aerospace History are welcome.

    The International Academy of Astronautics was founded in 
Stockholm on Aug. 16, 1960.  Since that time, the IAA has 
regularly brought together the world's foremost experts in 
the disciplines of astronautics to recognize the 
accomplishments of their peers; to explore and discuss 
cutting-edge issues in space research and technology; and to 
provide direction and guidance in the non-military uses of 
space and the ongoing exploration of the solar system.  The 
Luigi Napolitano Book Award is given annually for a recent 
space-related publication by an individual or group who is 
not a member of the Academy.

     Copies of the book can be obtained by contacting Dr. 
Roger D. Launius, senior NASA Historian via e-mail at 
roger.launius@hq.nasa.gov, fax at 202/358-2866, or phone at 
202/358-0384.

-end-