Environmental Team Earns International Award

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (9/17/0) -- A U.S. delegation that includes three employees from The Aerospace Corporation has received Air Force Materiel Command's International Award in Armaments Cooperation in the team category.

The delegation has been participating in ongoing U.S. and Russian Federation efforts with Air Force officials and contractor representatives to facilitate a greater sharing of environmental technologies developed for Russian space programs that could benefit the United States.

Drs. Rod Gibson, Valerie Lang and Bill Ailor of The Aerospace Corporation are members of the U.S. delegation that has participated in two meetings so far with the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) at Los Angeles Air Force Base and representatives of the Russian Federation's Ministry of

Defense.

The most recent meeting took place in October 2000 at Fort MacArthur in Los Angeles under the Bilateral Environmental Cooperation for Space Activities Program agreement between the United States and Russia.

The focus of efforts during the meeting was to compare Russian hydrazine treatment technologies with those used at U.S. launch sites. A new Aerospace proposal to conduct joint research on space object reentry is also under review by U.S. and Russian delegates.

SMC commander Lt. Gen. Brian Arnold presented the award to the U.S. delegation on July 23, 2001.