NASA Distinguished Service Medal

The NASA Distinguished Service Medal is the highest award that can be bestowed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States. The medal may be presented to any member of the federal government, including both military astronauts and civilian employees.

The NASA Distinguished Service Medal is awarded to those who display distinguished service, ability, or courage, and have personally made a contribution representing substantial progress to the NASA mission. The contribution must be so extraordinary that other forms of recognition would be inadequate.

Typical presentations of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal included awards to senior NASA administrators, mission control leaders, and astronauts who have completed several successful space flights. Due to the prestige of the award, the decoration is authorized for wear on active uniforms of the United States military. Another such authorized decoration is the NASA Space Flight Medal.

Upon the recommendation of NASA, the president may award an even higher honor to astronauts, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

The medal was original awarded by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and was inherited by NASA. The first NASA version (type I), featuring the NASA seal, was issued from 1959 until 1964, when it was replaced by the current type II medal (shown).



1959

 * John W. Crowley, Jr., NASA Director of Aeronautical and Space Research

1961

 * Alan Shepard (May 8)
 * Virgil I. Grissom (July 22)

1962

 * John Glenn
 * Robert Gilruth
 * Scott Carpenter
 * Wally Schirra (October 15)
 * Forrest S. Petersen, X-15 pilot
 * Robert White, X-15 pilot
 * Joseph A. Walker, X-15 pilot
 * Walter C. Williams

1963

 * Gordon Cooper

1965

 * Wally Schirra (December 30) (second award)

1968

 * James Webb
 * Alexander Flax

1969
• William A. Anders

• Frank A. Bogart

• Carroll H. Bolender

• Frank Borman

• Robert E. Bourdeau

• Eugene A. Cernan

• Roger B. Chaffee

• John F. Clark

• Raymond L. Clark

• Ozro M. Covington

• Kurt H. Debus

• Maxime A. Faget

• Robert R. Gilruth

• Harry H. Gorman

• Virgil I. Grissom (second award)

• Hans F. Gruene

• George H. Hage

• Wesley L. Hjornevik

• Lee B. James

• David M. Jones

• Kenneth S. Kleinknecht

• Christopher C. Kraft

• James A. Lovell

• George M. Low

• Charles W. Matthews

• Alexander A. McCool

• James A. McDivitt

• Jessie L. Mitchell

• George E. Mueller

• John E. Naugle

• Edmund F. O'Connor

• Rocco A. Petrone

• Samuel C. Phillips

• Joseph Purcell

• Eberhard F. M. Rees

• Ludie G. Richard

• Arthur Rudolph

• Julian W. Scheer

• William C. Schneider

• Russell L. Schweickart

• David R. Scott

• Robert C. Seamans

• Willis H. Shapley

• Albert F. Siepert

• Donald K. Slayton

• Thomas P. Stafford

• Gerald M. Truszynski

• Wernher von Braun

• Hermann K. Weidner

• Edward H. White

• John S. Williams

• John W. Young

1970

 * Edwin E. Aldrin
 * Neil A. Armstrong
 * Alan L. Bean
 * Michael Collins
 * Charles Conrad
 * Richard F. Gordon
 * Fred W. Haise
 * James A. Lovell (second award)
 * Thomas O. Paine
 * John L. Swigert

1971

 * Charles J. Donlan
 * James B. Irwin
 * Vincent L. Johnson
 * Walter J. Kapryan
 * Eugene F. Kranz
 * Bruce T. Lundin
 * Glynn S. Lunney
 * James A. McDivitt
 * Edgar D. Mitchell
 * Bernard Moritz
 * Dale D. Myers
 * Oran W. Nicks
 * Stuart A. Roosa
 * David R. Scott (second award)
 * Alan B. Shepard (second award)
 * Sigurd A. Sjoberg
 * John W. Townsend
 * Alfred M. Worden

1972

 * Charles M. Duke
 * Paul Werner Gast
 * William R. Lucas
 * Hans M. Mark
 * Thomas K. Mattingly
 * Richard C. McCurdy
 * William T. Pecora
 * Dan Schneiderman
 * John W. Young (second award)

1973
• George W. S. Abbey

• Alan L. Bean (second award)

• Leland F. Belew

• Charles A. Berry

• Aleck C. Bond

• Anthony J. Calio

• Eugene A. Cernan (second award)

• Aaron Cohen

• Charles Conrad (second award)

• Richard W. Cook

• John H. Disher

• Paul C. Donnelly

• Ronald E. Evans

• Arnold W. Frutkin

• Owen K. Garriott

• Ernst Geissler

• Roy E. Godfrey

• Robert H. Gray

• George B. Hardy

• Robert C. Hock

• William P. Horton

• S. Neil Hosenball

• Roy P. Jackson

• Richard S. Johnston

• Joseph P. Kerwin

• James E. Kingsbury

• Jack A. Kinzler

• Kenneth S. Kleinknecht (second award)

• Joseph N. Kotanchik

• Chester M. Lee

• William E. Lilly

• Jack R. Lousma

• Owen G. Morris

• Rocco A. Petrone

• Isom A. Rigell

• Miles Ross

• George T. Sasseen

• Harrison H. Schmitt

• William C. Schneider

• Richard G. Smith

• Howard W. Tindall

• Paul J. Weitz

1974
• Donald D. Buchanan

• Gerald P. Carr

• Walker E. Giberson

• Edward G. Gibson

• Charles F. Hall

• Robert L. Krieger

• Dale D. Myers

• William R. Pogue

• Norman Pozinsky

• Martin L. Raines

• Lee R. Scherer

• John M. Thole

• Robert F. Thompson

1975
• Vance D. Brand

• Robert H. Curtin

• M. P. Frank

• Donald P. Hearth

• Chester M. Lee

• Glynn S. Lunney

• Joseph B. Mahon

• Ellery B. May

• John L. McLucas

• William Nordberg

• George F. Page

• Donald K. Slayton (second award)

• Thomas P. Stafford (second award)

• David Williamson

1976
• Charles J. Donlan

• Isaac T. Gillam

• Charles R. Gunn

• William M. Lohse

• Charles W. Mathews

• John J. Neilon

• Leonard Roberts

• William R. Schindler

1977
• Edgar M. Cortright

• Malcolm R. Currie

• James C. Fletcher

• Noel W. Hinners

• Leonard Jaffe

• Harriett G. Jenkins

• Robert S. Kraemer

• Bruce T. Lundin

• Hans M. Mark

• James S. Martin

• John E. Naugle

• Henry W. Norris

• A. Thomas Young

1978
• Kenneth R. Chapman

• Duward Crow

• Robert H. Curtin

• Marvin L. McNickle

• David R. Scott (Third Award)

• Milton O. Thompson

• Gerald M. Truszynski

1980

 * William H. Bayley

1981

 * Robert L. Crippen
 * Paul C. Donnelly
 * Howard S. Hardcastle
 * James B. Odom
 * Andrew J. Stofan
 * John F. Yardley
 * Walter C. Williams (second award)

1984

 * Robert O. Aller

1988

 * Willis H. Shapley (second award)

1991

 * John R. Casani

1992

 * Berrien Moore III
 * Mark Albrecht
 * Story Musgrave

1994

 * Joseph H Rothenberg

1995

 * Dr. Charles J. Pellerin
 * Bill G. Aldridge

1996

 * Gerald M. Smith
 * William J. O'Neil

1997

 * Jerome Apt

2000

 * Joseph H Rothenberg

2001

 * Jack Brooks
 * Claude Nicollier
 * Courtney Stadd
 * James S. Voss
 * Joseph Philip Loftus

2002

 * Scott E. Parazynski

2004

 * Kalpana Chawla
 * William McCool
 * Axel Roth
 * Brock "Randy" Stone
 * Lott W. Brantley Jr.
 * G. Scott Hubbard
 * Edward T. Lu

2005

 * Firouz Naderi

2006

 * Eileen M. Collins

2007

 * Douglas Hendriksen

2008

 * Walter Cunningham
 * Donn Eisele
 * Fuk Li
 * Walter Schirra (Third Award)
 * E. Myles Standish
 * Richard Sunseri

2009

 * Christopher Scolese
 * Stephanie D. Wilson

2010
• David K. Alonso

• Scott D. Altman

• John M. Grunsfeld

• Kenneth M. Ford

• Jeffrey M. Hanley

• John T. James

• Suresh M. Joshi

• William H. Kinard

• Steven J. Ostro

• Mark L. Polansky

• Frederick Sturckow

• Jacob Trombka

• David A. Wolf

2011
• Stephen K. Robinson

• Richard Mushotzky

• Richard Grammier

• Daniel McCleese

• Richard Fisher

• Stephanie D. Wilson

• James E. Fesmire

• Dmitri Kondratyev

2012
• Frank J. Benz

• Byron Butler

• Sam V. Digesu

• Christopher J. Ferguson

• David C. Folta

• Michael E. Fossum

• Mark E. Kelly

• Alan J. Lindenmoyer

• David M. Martin

• Ann McNair

• Robert R. Meyer

• Martin G. Mlynczak

• Philip E. Phillips

• Craig L. Purdy

• Daniel C. Reda

• Joseph Savino

• Phillip A. Sabelhaus

• Peter J. Serlemitsos

• Robert M. Stephens

• Michael T. Suffredini

• Richard Zurek

2015
• Raymond G. Clinton Jr.

• Carl Preston Jones

• Ellen Ochoa

2016
• James O. Arnold

• Perry L. Becker

• Jeri Buchholz

• Ricky W. Butler

• Edward R. Generazio

• Linda M. Jensen

• Jack King

• Jennifer C. Kunz

• Michael F. O'Brien

• William Oegerle

• Patrick Scheuermann

• Piers J. Sellers

• J. William Sikora

• Teresa Vanhooser

2017
• Ellen Ochoa

• Dolores A. Holland

• Dava J. Newman

• Steven J. Kempler

• Michael Hesse

• Paul A. Newman

• Carol Mosier

2018
• Theodore Adams

• Gale Allen

• Christine Belcastro

• John Charles

• Charles Dovale

• Philip Eberspeaker

• James Free

• Cornelis Gehrels

• Pamela Hanes

• Kenneth Human

• Robert Jacobs

• Debra Johnson

• Lauren Leo

• Robert Lightfoot

• Dawn Lowe

• Joel Montalbano

• Ellen Ochoa

• Krista Paquin

• Jonathan Pettus

• Dennis Reuter

• Lesa Roe

• Michael Sampson

• Christopher Singer

• Hanwant Singh

• Gregory Williams

• Josef Wonsever

• Joseph Zawodny

2019
• Richard Antcliff

• Richard Barney

• Darren Bedell

• Dwayne C. Brown

• Thomas Bryan

• Layne Carter

• Ricky Cissom

• Joseph Cuzzupoli

• William DeLoach

• Daniel Dittman

• Edward Fein

• Michael Freilich

• Michael Good

• Tyrell Hawkins

• William Hicks

• Andrew Hunter

• Dorsie Jones

• Vicki Kloeris

• Joseph Madden

• Edward Masuoka

• Todd May

• William Myers

• Jim Reuter

• Melvin Scruggs

• Robert Scully

• Jaiwon Shin

• Patrick Simpkins

• Steven Sullivan

• Eric Thaxton

• Michael Van Houten

• Brenton Weathered

• Terry Wilcutt