Two Draper Employees and One Team Nominated for RNASA Stellar Awards
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. –Two Draper employees and one team are nominees for the prestigious Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) Stellar Awards. Stellar Award winners will be announced at the 36th Annual Space Awards Gala, to be held in Houston, Texas, on April 25, 2025.
The RNASA Stellar Awards are given annually to recognize outstanding individuals and teams within the U.S. space industry. These awards are presented in four categories: Early Career (up to age 35), Mid-Career (ages 36-50), Late Career (ages 51 and older), and Team. The winners are selected by a distinguished evaluation panel based on their accomplishments and the potential for their work to further future space activities.
The Draper nominees are:
Jimmy Jang received a Late Career Award nomination for his superior technical, leadership and mentoring excellence, exemplifying a 35-year career in advanced guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) system technology, mission design, and optimization.
Matt Fritz was nominated for a Mid-Career Award for an outstanding history of leadership and technical excellence on numerous unique and successful flight programs, covering a wide breath of GNC developments.
The Draper Stratolaunch Talon-A Guidance, Navigation, and Control Team earned a nomination for the GNC software that performed flawlessly through the first powered flight of the Talon-A hypersonic vehicle. Hailee Hettrick will represent the team at the gala. Other team members include David A. Benson, Alexander Danielsen-Haces, Ravi Gondhalekar, Ezzie Husein, Angela L. Maki, Matthew R. Stoeckle, Brett J. Streetman and Lee C. Yang.
“We are honored to have our employees’ work recognized by these Stellar Award nominations,” said Chris Boger, Director, Human Spaceflight & Exploration at Draper. “This is a reflection of the hard work and dedication these individuals bring to solving our customers’ hardest problems.”
The Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) Foundation was founded by the Space Center Rotary Club of Houston, Texas in 1985 to organize and coordinate an annual event to recognize outstanding achievements in space and create greater public awareness of the benefits of space exploration. Each year since 1987, the Foundation has presented the National Space Trophy and other awards honoring those who have contributed to our nation's space program.
About Draper
Draper is a non-profit research and development company that solves some of the nation’s most important challenges. With more than 2,000 employees working in collaboration across 12 locations, Draper delivers transformative, mission-driven solutions that successfully meet our customers’ requirements. These efforts focus on four critical mission areas: Strategic Systems, Space Systems, Electronic Systems, and Biotechnology Systems. To extend our legacy into the future, the Draper Scholars program engages with the next generation of innovators while DraperSPARX™ seeks to partner with startups and small businesses that can further our mission. To learn more about Draper, visit www.draper.com.
Released April 25, 2025
