JPL's John Casani Honored by Air and Space Museum

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Isabel Lara 202-633-2374
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington
LaraI@si.edu

NEWS RELEASE: 2009-076 April 30, 2009

JPL's John Casani Honored by Air and Space Museum

John Casani of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has been honored
with the National Air and Space Museum's prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award, the museum's highest honor, was presented to Casani during an April 29,
black tie event at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum building in
Washington.

"John was here at the beginning when JPL moved from building rockets to building
spacecraft for exploring the planets and deep space," said JPL Director Charles Elachi.
"He helped lay the foundation of how we approach project management and build
spacecraft – essentially how our nation would explore space. And when today we send
these rovers and other spacecraft on missions across the solar system, we are really
standing on the shoulders of giants like John Casani."

Casani's work can be found at the farthest reaches of our solar system. He began his
career at JPL in the mid-1950s, working on the lab's Jupiter and Sergeant rocket
programs. He went on to become an engineer on the early Pioneer moon missions and led
the design team for both the Ranger and Mariner spacecraft. Casani held senior project
positions on many of the Mariner missions to Mars and Venus, and in 1970 became
project manager of Mariner 6 and Mariner 7. Later, Casani would project-manage
NASA's Voyager mission to the outer planets, Galileo mission to Jupiter, and Cassini
mission to Saturn, as well as the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter mission. Today, Casani is
Special Assistant to the Director at JPL.

Casani has been honored with several NASA awards, including the Distinguished Service
Medal (NASA's highest award). He has received the American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics (AIAA) Space System Award, the von Karman Lectureship, the
National Space Club Astronauts Engineer Award, and the American Astronomical
Society's Space Flight Award. He is a Fellow of the AIAA and is a member of the
National Academy of Engineering and the International Astronautics Academy. In 1965,
the president of Italy awarded Casani the Italian Order of Merit and bestowed on him the
title of Commendatore.

John Casani holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and an honorary
doctor of science degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and an
honorary degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Rome, Italy.

Also honored last night with the Air and Space Museum's 2009 Lifetime Achievement
was NASA test pilot and two-time shuttle astronaut Gordon Fullerton.

Established in 1985, the National Air and Space Museum Lifetime Achievement
Award is presented annually to recognize outstanding achievement in scientific or
technological endeavors relating to air and space technology and exploration. Previous
recipients of the Lifetime Achievement award include Apollo astronaut Neil
Armstrong and scientist James Van Allen.

For more information on JPL please visit us on the Web at: www.jpl.nasa.gov ,

For more information on the National Air and Space Museum Trophy and other awards in
the museum's collections, visit http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/trophy/ .

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