Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award Open for Nominations 10 February 2025 1 June 2025

The Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award is presented for the best original contribution to the field of aeronautical or astronautical non-fiction literature published in the last five years dealing with the science, technology, and/or impact of aeronautics or astronautics on society. It honors David Lasser, an editor of science fiction stories who is considered to be the guiding spirit of the founders of the American Interplanetary Society and its first president, and Lester Durand Gardner, publisher of Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering (which later became Aviation Week and Space Technology) and the founder of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences. The American Interplanetary Society (later known as the American Rocket Society) and Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences merged to form the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

This annual award is generally presented at the AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition (AIAA SciTech Forum), but may be presented at the Forum which matches the focus of the selected literature.

Deadlines:
Accepting Online Nominations: 10 February
Nomination Deadline: 1 June
Endorsement Letters Deadline: 1 July

AIAA Publications Awards Nomination Form 

Award Recipients

2024

  • Dr Margaret A Weitekamp
    Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
    Awarded
    Award: 2024 AIAA Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award
    AIAA Citation: Book: Space Craze: America’s Enduring Fascination with Real and Imagined Space Flight

2023

  • Dr Diane Vaughan
    Columbia University
    Awarded
    Award: 2023 AIAA Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award 
    AIAA Citation: Book: "Dead Reckoning: Air Traffic Control, System Effects, and Risk"

2022

  • Dr John M Logsdon
    George Washington University
    Awarded
    Award: 2022 AIAA Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award
    AIAA Citation: Book: "Ronald Reagan and the Space Frontier”

2021

  • Slava Gerovitch
    Awarded
    Award: 2021 AIAA GARDNER-LASSER AEROSPACE LITERATURE AWARD
    AIAA Citation: Book: Soviet Space Mythologies: Public Images, Private Memories, and the Making of a Cultural Identity

2020

  • Dr Jeremy R Kinney
    National Air and Space Museum
    Awarded
    Award: Reinventing the Propeller: Aeronautical Specialty and the Triumph of the Modern Airplane”

2019

  • Dr Valerie Neal
    Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
    Awarded
    Award: Spaceflight in the Shuttle Era and Beyond: Redefining Humanity’s Purpose in Space
    AIAA Citation: Spaceflight in the Shuttle Era and Beyond: Redefining Humanity’s Purpose in Space

2018

  • Margot Lee Shetterly
    Awarded
    Award: Hidden Figures
    AIAA Citation: Hidden Figures

2017

  • Dr John M Logsdon
    Awarded
    AIAA Citation: For the book, "After Apollo: Richard Nixon and the American Space Program"

2016

  • Dr Monique Laney
    Auburn University
    Awarded
    AIAA Citation: For the book, “German Rocketeers In The Heart of Dixie: Making Sense of the Nazi Past During The Civil Rights Era.”

2015

  • Dennis R. Jenkins
    Aerospace Historian
    Awarded
    AIAA Citation: "Dressing for Altitude"

2014

  • Dr William J Clancey
    Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition
    Awarded
    AIAA Citation: “Working on Mars: Voyages of Scientific Discovery with The Mars Exploration Rovers"

2013

  • Prof David Mindell
    Massachusettes Institute of Technology
    Awarded
    AIAA Citation: "Digital Apollo: Human and Machine In Spaceflight"

2012

  • Dr John M Logsdon
    Awarded
    AIAA Citation: “John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon.”

2011

  • Mr James R Hansen
    Auburn University
    Awarded-CoRecipients
    AIAA Citation: "Truth, Lies, and O-Rings"
  • Allan J McDonald
    Awarded-CoRecipients
    AIAA Citation: "Truth, Lies, and O-Rings"

2010

  • Mr. John D Hunley
    Awarded
    AIAA Citation: "Preludes To U.S. Space Launch Vehicle Technology" and "U. S. Space Launch Vehicle Technology"

2009

  • Dr Orville Butler
    American Institute of Physics
    Awarded-CoRecipients
    AIAA Citation: "A History of the Kennedy Space Center"
  • Dr Kenneth Lipartito
    Florida International University
    Awarded-CoRecipients
    AIAA Citation: "A History of the Kennedy Space Center"

2008

  • Mr. Peter J. Westwick
    University of California
    Awarded
    AIAA Citation: "Into The Black: JPL and the American Space Program 1876-2004"

2007

  • Dr Richard P Hallion
    Awarded
    AIAA Citation: “Taking Flight: Inventing the Aerial Age From Antiquity Through The First World War” ISBN 978-0195160352

2006

  • Mr James R Hansen
    Auburn University
    Awarded
    AIAA Citation: "First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong"

2005

  • Dr Tom D Crouch
    National Air & Space Museum
    Awarded
    AIAA Citation: “Wings”

2004

  • Mr. Michael Gorn
    NASA-Dryden Flight Research Center
    Awarded
    AIAA Citation: "Expanding The Envelope"

2003

  • Anne Millbrooke
    Awarded-CoRecipients
    AIAA Citation: “Aviation History”
  • Mr. William F Trimble
    National Air and Space Museum
    Awarded-CoRecipients
    AIAA Citation: “Jerome C. Hunsaker and the Rise of American Aeronautics”

2002

  • Dr John D Anderson
    Retired f/University of Maryland
    Awarded
    AIAA Citation: “A History of Aerodynamics”