The Space Frontier Foundation gives annual awards to people, companies and institutions who have made, in the Foundation’s view, the greatest contributions that year to opening the frontier.
Categories include Service to the Frontier, Vision to Reality, Vision of the Future, Best Presentation of Space, NewSpace Journalism, and Pioneer of NewSpace. A special award, The Founder’s Award, is given each year to honor a space activist for overall and long-term achievement.
The award, pictured at right, is a polished marble obelisk emerging from rough rock. On the face of the obelisk is the Foundation’s logo, the category of the award, and the recipient’s name and affiliation. The awards are presented at the Foundation’s annual conference each year, during the awards banquet.
2015
VISION TO REALITY – Made in Space
PIONEER OF NEWSPACE – Bob Brumley
VISION OF THE FUTURE – Interstellar
NEWSPACE JOURNALISM – Eric Berger
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Curtis Iwata
2014
VISION TO REALITY – NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Program, for pushing and helping to develop the commercial space industry through the achievements of Orbital Sciences and SpaceX.
PIONEER OF NEWSPACE – Patti Grace Smith, former FAA Commercial Space Transportation Associate Administrator, for conceiving and implementing a pro-commercial space regulatory environment.
VISION OF THE FUTURE – Kerbal Space Program, for teaching the public about how a space program operates in an online simulator-type game environment.
NEWSPACE JOURNALISM – NewSpace Global, for their meticulous reporting on the NewSpace industry and space development and settlement.
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Aaron Oesterle & Paul Fuller, for their exceptional volunteer service to the Foundation.
FOUNDERS AWARD – Freeman Dyson, for his involvement with the Space Studies Institute as an early partner with Dr. Gerard O’Neill, as well as for the help and inspiration he gave the Founders during the formation of the Space Frontier Foundation.
2013
PIONEER OF NEWSPACE – Rene Anselmo, former CEO & Founder of PanAmSat, a private satellite service provider who broke the barrier on international satellite communications.
NEWSPACE JOURNALISM – Michael Belfiore, contributing author for Popular Mechanics magazine, for his excellent multi-year coverage of the developing NewSpace industry.
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – James Tumber & Bill Boland, for their volunteer dedication towards the Space Frontier Foundation.
2012
VISION TO REALITY – NASA Kepler Program, for their NewSpace-style mission of initially setting out to find “dozens” of exo-planets, and instead finding over a thousand, all while staying highly effective, with a budget that can be considered tiny by space standards.
PIONEER OF NEWSPACE – Bob Citron, for his entrepreneurial legacy of SpaceHab Inc., Kistler Aerospace Corp., and Lunar Transportation Systems Inc. (among others).
BEST PRESENTATION OF SPACE – TEDx, for getting the word NewSpace out, and spreading it to a large, un-tapped audience.
NEWSPACE JOURNALISM – Carol Pinchefsky, for her strong support—and more often defense—of NewSpace in her Forbes.com articles.
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Bruce Pittman, for his undying support of commercial space, and for being the lynchpin for our continuous, highly-successful partnership with NASA.
2011
VISION TO REALITY – NanoRacks, LLC, for outstanding achievement in the development and operation of a device, system, or entity that forwards the opening of the Space Frontier.
VISION OF THE FUTURE – Live Free or Die (Troy Rising) – for outstanding achievement in presenting the possibilities of the Space Frontier to the general public.
Author John Ringo accepts the 2011 “Vision of the Future” Award
BEST PRESENTATION OF SPACE – Yuri’s Night, for outstanding achievement in highlighting past and present events in space exploration and development.
NEWSPACE JOURNALISM – Rand Simberg, for outstanding achievement in journalism spotlighting NewSpace.
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Kyle Schember and Ryan Stuit, for outstanding achievement in volunteer service to the Space Frontier Foundation.
FOUNDERS AWARD – Ryan McLinko & James Pura, for transforming and leading the Space Frontier Foundation NewSpace Conference.
2010
VISION TO REALITY – Masten Space Systems, for winning the Lunar Lander Challenge
VISION OF THE FUTURE – “Moon” by Duncan Jones
BEST PRESENTATION OF SPACE – Spacevidcast.com, by Ben & Cariann Higginbotham
NEWSPACE JOURNALISM – Miles O’Brien, for “This Week In Space”
PIONEER OF NEWSPACE – Art Dula
Gwynne Shotwell accepts 2009 Vision to Reality award on behalf of SpaceX.
2009
VISION TO REALITY – SpaceX, for Falcon 1 Launch
PIONEER OF NEWSPACE – Dr. Pete Worden, for NASA and NewSpace collaboration
VISION OF THE FUTURE – Star Trek
BEST PRESENTATION OF SPACE – “The Universe”, Sex in Space
NEWSPACE JOURNALISM – Dr. Charles Lurio, for The Lurio Report
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Jack Kennedy, for Virginia NewSpace legislation
Rod Roddenberry accepts 2009 Vision of the Future award on behalf of Star Trek.
FOUNDERS’ AWARD – Lori Barth, for 25 years of service to the Space Frontier
2008
VISION TO REALITY – NASTAR Center
BEST PRESENTATION OF SPACE – Orphans of Apollo
NEWSPACE JOURNALISM – Dr. David M. Livingston, for The Space Show
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Vanna Bonta, for The Cosmos Review
VISION TO REALITY – Anousheh Ansari
VISION TO REALITY – Robert Bigelow
PIONEER OF NEWSPACE – David Hannah
Anousheh Ansari receives Vision to Reality Award, presented by then-Executive Director, Jeff Krukin
2007
BEST PRESENTATION OF SPACE – Clark S. Lindsey, for HobbySpace.com
NEWSPACE JOURNALISM – Jeff Foust
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Rich Pournelle
FOUNDERS’ AWARD – Gary C. Hudson
2006
VISION TO REALITY – Space Adventures
VISION OF THE FUTURE AWARD – Joss Whedon, for Serenity/Firefly
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Robin Snelson
PIONEER OF NEWSPACE – Courtney Stadd
SPACE JOURNALISM – Alan Boyle (MSNBC)
FOUNDERS’ AWARD – Walt Anderson
2005
VISION TO REALITY – The Deep Impact Mission
VISION OF THE FUTURE AWARD – “Fantastic Four”, for its depiction of a commercial space station
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Michael K. Heney
BEST PRESENTATION OF SPACE – Mark Cowen, Tom Hanks and IMAX Corporation, for “Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D”
BEST PRESENTATION OF SPACE – Paul Allen and The Discovery Channel, in association with Gemini Productions and Antenna Films, for “Black Sky: The Race for Space”
FOUNDERS’ AWARD – David Gump
2004
VISION TO REALITY – Scaled Composites, for flying the first private human-piloted spaceship into space
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Robert Noteboom, for Outstanding Service To The Cause of Opening the Frontier
FOUNDERS’ AWARD – The X-Prize Foundation
2003
VISION TO REALITY – Dr. Pascal Lee and the NASA Haughton-Mars Project Team
VISION OF THE FUTURE AWARD – Tim McElyea, For “A Vision of the Future of Space Transportation”
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Erin Medlicott, For Outstanding Service To The Cause of Opening the Frontier
2002
VISION TO REALITY – XCOR Aerospace and the EZ-Rocket Team
BEST PRESENTATION OF SPACE – Apogee Books, For their NASA Mission Report Books as well as other Titles Documenting the Opening of the Frontier
SERVICE TO THE REVOLUTION AWARD – Rick N. Tumlinson, For 14 years as President of the Space Frontier Foundation
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Brook E. Mantia, For Outstanding Service To The Cause of Opening the Frontier
2001
VISION TO REALITY – Dennis Tito, World’s First Citizen Space Explorer
VISION TO REALITY – Yuri Koptev, General Director, Rosaviakosmos, For Leadership in the cause of Citizen Space Exploration
VISION TO REALITY – Dr. Yuri Semenov, RSC Energia, For the Tito / ISSA Mission
VISION OF THE FUTURE – PERMISSION TO DREAM – George Whitesides, Co-Founder, Yuri’s Night
VISION OF THE FUTURE – PERMISSION TO DREAM – Loretta Hidalgo, Co-Founder, Yuri’s Night
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Joseph Gillin, For Outstanding Service To The Cause of Opening the Frontier
FOUNDERS’ AWARD – The Honorable Dana Rohrabacher, For Outstanding Leadership in the Cause of Opening Space
2000
VISION TO REALITY – The MirCorp Team, Yuri Semenov – Alexander Derechin – Chirinjeev Kathuria – Jeff Manber – Valeri Ryumin, For Sending the First Privately Funded Manned Mission to Mir
VISION OF THE FUTURE – Space Channel Canada, For Portraying Space as Accessible to Everyone
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Ed Wright, Advocate, Space Frontier Foundation, For Putting Together the First Space Enterprise Symposium
1999
VISION TO REALITY – The Sea Launch Team
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Dr. Alfred Differ, Advocate, Space Frontier Foundation
PROSPACE ACTIVIST OF THE YEAR – Kerinia Cusick
FOUNDERS’ AWARD – Dr. Gerard K. O’Neill, author of The High Frontier
1998
VISION TO REALITY – The Lunar Prospector Team, Dr. Alan Binder – Gregg Maryniak – Space Studies Institute
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Benigno Muniz, Jr., Board Member, Space Frontier Foundation
BEST PRESENTATION OF SPACE – Andrew Chaikin, author of A Man on the Moon
LEGISLATOR OF THE YEAR – Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-CA
COMMITMENT TO THE VISION – Foundation Co-founders: Jim Muncy – Rick Tumlinson – Bob Werb
SPECIAL AWARD (for Pioneering the Space Frontier) – Vladimir Syromiantnikov, senior designer, Viktor Blagov, senior operator, Energia Mir Program, Russia
SERVICE TO HUMANITY – Armageddon – Deep Impact
30TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION – Apollo VII: Astronauts: Wally Schirra – Walter Cunningham – Donn Eisele
PROSPACE ACTIVIST OF THE YEAR – Jeff Krukin
FOUNDERS’ AWARD – Peter Thorpe, Creative Director, Space Frontier Foundation
1997
VISION TO REALITY – Celestis Corporation
VISION OF THE FUTURE – L-5 City in Space, Imax Corporation
FOUNDERS’ AWARD – Tom Rogers
1996
VISION TO REALITY – Spacehab – Chet Lee
VISION OF THE FUTURE – Babylon 5, John C. Flinn III – Suzanne E. Sternlicht – Paul Beigle – Ron Thorton
FOUNDERS’ AWARD – Walt Anderson
1995
VISION TO REALITY – Clementine Lunar Probe Team, Col. Pedro (Pete) Rustan – Col. Pete Worden – Dr. Stewart Nozette – Dr. Eugene Shoemaker
1994
VISION TO REALITY – Delta Clipper (DC-X) Team, Dr. Jerry Pournelle – Dr. Maxwell W. Hunter – Col. Pete Worden, Maj. Jess Sponable – Dr. William A. Gaubatz – Mr. Paul Klevatt, Hon. Dana Rohrabacher – Hon. John Murtha – Hon. Norm Mineta
VISION OF THE FUTURE – The Cast and Crew of Babylon 5 – Mr. J. Michael Straczynski, Creator and Executive Producer
SERVICE TO THE FRONTIER – Mr. Timothy Kyger, Vice-President, Space Frontier Foundation
1993
VISION TO REALITY – Founders of the International Space University, Peter H. Diamandis – Todd B. Hawley – Robert D. Richards
