The team in charge of NASA’s Kepler mission, responsible for history’s first detection of Earth-sized planets orbiting other suns in their temperate “habitable zone,” receive the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s highest group honor at a ceremony in Washington on March 25. Kepler will receive the 2015 Trophy for Current Achievement, which honors outstanding endeavors in the fields of aerospace science and technology.
In the foreground, General John “Jack” R. Dailey (front right), director of the National Air and Space Museum, presents the 2015 Current Achievement Trophy Award to William Borucki, Kepler mission principal investigator, (front left) and NASA’s Kepler Mission Team.
Pictured in the background from left to right are: Jason Rowe (SETI Institute/NASA Ames), Leslie Livesay (JPL), Michele Johnson (NASA Ames), Jay Bookbinder (NASA Ames), Paul Hertz (NASA HQ), Jon Jenkins (NASA Ames), Mike Haas (NASA Ames), Edna DeVore (SETI Institute), John Troeltzsch (Ball Aerospace), Steve Howell (NASA Ames), Natalie Batalha (NASA Ames), David Latham (Harvard-Smithsonian), Michael Bicay (NASA Ames), Kelsey Hoffman (SETI Insitute/NASA Ames), Charlie Sobeck (NASA Ames), Jim Fanson (JPL), Geoff Marcy (UC Berkeley), Nick Gautier (JPL) and Tracy Drain (JPL).
To read more about the award and the Kepler team, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/ames/kepler-wins-national-air-and-space-museum-trophy.