NASA Space Flight Awareness Program Recognizes Michoud Employee

NEW ORLEANS – Michoud Assembly Facility employee Donovan Thomas of New Orleans was recognized on Wednesday, April 3, by NASA’s Space Flight Awareness Program with an honoree award for outstanding support of human spaceflight. Details were shared in a press release.

Thomas is a scientist with A2Reseach at Michoud Assembly Facility. He was honored for his diligence and dedication in the materials testing laboratory, contributing to the success of contamination analysis during manufacturing of the new Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule.

Astronaut Scott Tingle, along with Bill Hill, NASA deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development; and Lonnie Dutreix, deputy chief operating officer at Michoud Assembly Facility, presented the honoree awards during a ceremony in New Orleans.          

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In recognition of his flight program contributions, Thomas toured Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. He also had the opportunity to view a hot fire test of RS-25 flight engine No. 2062 on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis. NASA is testing RS-25 engines at Stennis to help power its new Space Launch System rocket, being built to carry humans deeper into space than ever, to such destinations as the moon and, ultimately, Mars.

Tingle was a member of the 20th astronaut class in 2009. He served as flight engineer on the Expedition 54/55 crew on the International Space Station from Dec. 17, 2017 through June 3, 2018. During the mission, hundreds of experiments were conducted, including a study of the effect of microgravity on the bone marrow and research into plant growth in space. Tingle performed two spacewalks during the 168-day mission.  

NASA’s Space Flight Awareness Program recognizes outstanding job performances and contributions by civil service and contract employees throughout the year and focuses on excellence in quality and safety in support of human spaceflight. The honoree award is one of the highest honors presented to employees for their dedication to quality work and flight safety. Recipients must have contributed beyond their normal work requirements toward achieving a particular human spaceflight program goal; contributed to a major cost savings; been instrumental in developing material that increases reliability, efficiency or performance; assisted in operational improvements; or been a key player in developing a beneficial process improvement. 

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