2000 Tycho Brahe Award

Presented to: Dr. Richard H. Battin

Citation: For fundamental innovations in the development and application of astrodynamics to mission planning and implementation of reliable guidance, navigation and control of manned and unmanned spacecraft.

Dr. Richard H. Battin was responsible for creating the guidance and navigation concepts for the on-board flight computers when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Instrumentation Laboratory was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1961 to develop the guidance and navigation system for the Apollo spacecraft. In 1972, he and David Hoag received the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Louis W. Hill Space Transportation Award "for leadership in the hardware and software design of the Apollo spacecraft primary control, guidance, and navigation system which first demonstrated the feasibility of onboard space navigation during the historic flight of Apollo 8."

Dr. Battin is an honorary fellow of the AIAA and a fellow of the American Academy of Sciences. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the International Academy of Astronautics. He received the AIAA Mechanics and Control of Flight Award for 1978, the ION Superior Achievement Award for 1980, the AIAA Pendray Aerospace Literature Award for 1987, the AIAA von Karman Lectureship in Astronautics for 1989, and the AAS Dirk Brouwer Award for 1996. His book, An Introduction to the Mathematics and Methods of Astrodynamics, is a best-seller in the AIAA education series.