AIAA Aerospace Excellence Award
The AIAA Aerospace Excellence Award honors a unique achievement by a group or team in the aerospace community that is shaping the future of aerospace–and inspiring the next generation to pursue careers in aerospace.
Award Recipients
2025
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SpaceXSpaceXAwardedAward: 2025 AIAA Aerospace Excellence AwardAIAA Citation: For demonstrating controlled landings of the Starship Super Heavy booster by catching it with arms on the launch tower and accelerating the development of the space economy through this fully reusable launch vehicle.
2024
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USAF Combat Artificial Intelligence Technology Demonstration Team - Scott Cain,Ross Elder,Tucker Hamilton,John Nygard,Steven Rogers,Terry WilsonUSAF Combat Artificial Intelligence Technology Demonstration Team - Scott Cain,Ross Elder,Tucker Hamilton,John Nygard,Steven Rogers,Terry WilsonAwardedAward: 2024 AIAA Aerospace Excellence AwardAIAA Citation: For demonstrating AI piloting the XQ-58A Valkyrie uncrewed jet aircraft, building on previous demonstrations with a crewed F-16 VISTA X-62A, but taking it one step further to a full demonstration, and amplifying the importance of military government partnerships with industry and academia.
2023
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Double Asteroid Redirection Test Team (DART)Double Asteroid Redirection Test Team (DART)AwardedAward: 2023 AIAA Aerospace Excellence Award; Accepting the award on behalf of the DART Team are Jeremy John, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and Lindley Johnson, NASAAIAA Citation: “In recognition of humanity’s first time purposely changing the motion of a celestial object by a team of protectors of our home planet.”