High, right, receives the award from Robert Lightfoot, MSFC Director, at the awards ceremony held at the Huntsville Botanical Garden.

Space Flight Awareness Awards Presented to High and Kasperitis

Umeka High and Kevin Kasperitis, both of Aerospace Systems, were recently honored as recipients of the NASA Space Flight Awareness Award.  This prestigious award is given for an individual’s significant contributions to the space program.

Each honoree attended a special ceremony at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and received a certificate, pin, and shuttle model.  Both recipients also attended the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavor on Feb. 7 at KSC and were given a tour of the facilities.

High was selected for the award because of her exceptional technical and organizational skills in her role as Technical Administrative Lead for the Space Exploration Systems Team at TBE.  She supports multiple NASA contracts spanning multiple NASA Centers by working with MSFC in transitioning current and new TBE employees as well as personnel from about 40 subcontractor companies.  High’s detailed work has resulted in quick transitions for employees, allowing them to continue their work without disruption.  Her efforts have earned her commendations from MSFC Procurement, project managers, and our NASA counterparts as well as subcontractor teammates.  High also provides input to monthly and quarterly deliverables for 25 individual contracts, all of which she has met within the schedule. 

Kasperitis earned the award for his dedicated service to the Mission Operations Laboratory and exceptional efforts in leading the Operations Controller Team for International Space Station payload operations.  According to his nominator, Kasperitis has done an outstanding job as the Operations Controller (OC) Sub-team lead, working well with others and building excellent relationships with his co-workers and the NASA customer.  His ideas, work ethic, and training abilities are considered “top notch.”  Accommodating a demanding training schedule, Kasperitis continually works to improve OC training by using his outstanding ability to teach others the intricacies of the job.  Fellow employees and the customer constantly seek his advice and technical information regarding OC real-time planning and execution.

The Space Flight Awareness Award is the highest tribute paid by NASA to individuals in NASA, DoD, and industry for their dedication to quality work and flight safety.