Engineer Wins NASA Award for Space Station Work

HOUSTON, Tex. (9/18/00) -- Dr. Ray de Gaston, an engineer with The Aerospace Corporation who works at NASA-Johnson Space Center Operations in Houston, has received NASA's prestigious Silver Snoopy award for his work in preventing possible electrical power failure on the International Space Station.

The award, presented by Astronaut Frank Culbertson (see photo), recognizes outstanding performance contributing to flight safety or mission success. It is presented annually to less than one percent of the space program workforce and is always presented by an astronaut.

De Gaston was recognized for finding a potentially disastrous shortcoming in component quality for the space station's direct-current-to-direct current converter units. These key components alter voltage generated by photoelectric arrays and provide all usable electrical power to the station.

De Gaston has held engineering, systems analysis and management positions for a wide variety of projects involving NASA and the Department of Defense since joining The Aerospace Corporation in 1983.