2010

  • Jaques

    Danny R. Jaques

    BS, Fort Lewis College

    Danny Jaques has been a science teacher at Ignacio Junior High School for nearly twenty-five years. For more than half of those years, he has been a veritable dynamo and perhaps Space Camp’s most effective un-official ambassador. A life-long resident of Colorado, Danny has worked to ensure that the children in that area have the opportunity to take advantage of the educational opportunities offered at Space Camp®. As a Life Member of the National Science Teacher Association, President of the Ignacio Community Historical Society, member of the Mars Society, and Teacher Liaison Officer for the U.S. Space Foundation, Danny somehow found time to establish the Jaquez Rocket Ranch and Ignacio Space Camp. Danny’s organization has helped hundreds of students attend Space Camp. His natural optimism, enthusiasm and utter “joie de vive” make Danny a magnet for anyone that shares an interest in space and aviation.


  • Hanson

    Andrea M. Hanson, PhD

    BS, University of North Dakota
    MS University of Colorado
    Ph.D, University of Colorado, Boulder

    Former Advanced Space Academy® counselor, Andrea Hanson’s enthusiasm for Space Life Science began during her freshman year at college. However, Dr. Hanson credits her time as an instructor at Space Camp® the launch pad for her research career in that field. Following an internship with Boeing Satellite Systems, Dr. Hanson worked as a graduate student with BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado. Her dreams were realized when five years of research culminated in a space shuttle experiment that flew aboard STS-118 in August of 2007. Today, Dr. Hanson is post-doctoral research scientist and engineer in the Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle, focusing on developing technology to monitor musculoskeletal health in astronauts during long-duration space missions to the moon, Mars and beyond.


2009

  • Allan

    Jim Allan

    BS, M.Ed., Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin

    As the accessibility coordinator at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Jim Allan may be custom-made to be the wizard behind the curtain of Space Camp® for Interested Visually Impaired Students (SCIVIS). He has served in that capacity for almost 20 years. In addition to maintaining the SCIVIS website and coordinating the attendance of more than 200 blind and visually impaired students to Space Camp, Jim serves as the technical expert for the program. Jim’s expertise supported Space Camp’s development of mission software usable by blind and visually impaired students. It is no wonder that Jim adds the Space Camp Hall of Fame honor to the other state, national and international honors he has received for his significant contributions to the visually impaired community and a more accessible world.


  • Gleason

    SGM Jerry Gleason, Ret.

    Both legend and mentor to an entire generation of Aviation Challenge® trainees and staff members, Retired U.S. Army Veteran, Sergeant Major Gleason is part of the reason Aviation Challenge enjoys such a high number of repeat campers. Having proudly served his country for 30 years, he has spent his retirement serving the U.S. Space & Rocket Center® as an employee and as a volunteer. A highly-decorated combat veteran and survival expert, SGM Gleason is the author of the Aviation Challenge Land Survival training and has inspired more than a few young men and women to follow their dreams of pursuing a military career. As a four-time Bronze Star recipient, three-time Purple Heart recipient, and a two-time Meritorious Service Medal recipient, SGM Gleason is more than merely authentic. To those who proudly wear the Aviation Challenge wings, SGM Jerry Gleason is the bona fide, genuine article.


  • Pearlman

    Robert Pearlman

    University of Maryland, College Park

    An accomplished journalist, sought-after space history expert and respected appraiser of space memorabilia, Robert Pearlman was on the first to recognize the internet as a means of promoting space exploration. Editor of collectSPACE.com, Robert attended Space Camp® six times between 1987 and 1993. He founded collectSPACE in July 1999 and has grown it into the leading community and online publication for space history enthusiasts. In addition to his work on collectSPACE, Robert is also a contributing writer for Space.com and Space News. Pearlman created and worked on numerous other websites, including the award-winning Ask An Astronaut. A board member and advisor to numerous space-related foundations, Robert Pearlman possesses a rare combination of zeal, expertise and vision and continues to be an avid supporter and effective advocate of the space program.


2008

  • Holderer

    Oscar Holderer

    One of the original members of the von Braun Rocket Team, Holderer not only helped put men on the moon but also made it possible for thousands of would-be astronauts to learn all about space travel. His realistic design of such Space Camp® mainstays as the Multi-Axis Trainer, the 5DF and the 1/6th gravity trainer have allowed more than half a million youngsters over two decades to experience astronaut training on equipment modeled after actual NASA training equipment. Holderer is also responsible for helping ensure that millions of Alabama visitors traveling I-65 are greeted by a Saturn IB rocket proudly proclaiming Alabama’s place in history as the Birthplace of Manned Space Flight.


  • Maicki

    Marlenn Maicki

    BS – Wayne State University / MAT – Oakland University

    A devoted career educator, Mrs. Maicki does more than teach…she inspires. As a fifth grade science teacher and Dean of Students at Detroit’s Country Day School, she is legendary for her insistence that science be learned not from a text book, but by doing, seeing and experiencing. As of 2014, Mrs. Maicki has marked 27 consecutive years of bringing her entire 5th grade class – and most of their parents - on an annual trek to Space Camp®. With “the heart of a child and the creativity and drive of an award-winning teacher,” she has inspired literally thousands of students to dream big and to work to make those dreams a reality.


  • devries

    Lisa DeVries

    BS, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
    MS, Columbia Southern University

    As a child, she put glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling and dreamed of working in the space program. As a teenager, she attended Space Academy® and began a hot pursuit of her childhood dream. As a young adult, she continued that pursuit and shared her love of space as an Advanced Space Academy® Crew Trainer. Today, after having served ten years as a member of Space Operations Safety with the Space Shuttle Program at the Kennedy Space Center, Lisa DeVries is working with the Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) Program as the Lead Safety Engineer responsible for supporting upgrades to the Crawler Transporters. Wife and mother of two, Lisa has realized the dream…she has been among the last to leave the launch pad prior to each shuttle mission, one of the first on the runway upon the shuttle’s return, and now supporting upgrades at the Kennedy Space Center for NASA’s next space program. As the voice that gives the safety “go-no go” for Launch Control, DeVries is living her dream.


  • vazzo

    Vincent Vazzo

    BS, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

    An eight-time Space Camp® trainee, former counselor and current volunteer, Vincent Vazzo could have been inducted into the Hall of Fame in any of the three nominee categories. Vincent, the brain and energy behind the original, unofficial Space Camp social network, Hab1.com, never veered from the path to making the space program his career. Vincent spent the final years of the Space Shuttle Program working for United Space Alliance (USA) as part of the Engineering Photographic Analysis Team at the Marshall Space Flight Center, writing software and analyzing launch footage. Today, he is back at NASA working on engineering software with Optical Sciences Corporation (OSC).


  • Smith

    MAJ. Phillip A. "Ritz" Smith

    BS, U.S. Air Force Academy

    Although an alumnus of Space Camp, Florida, and Space Academy® at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Phillip Smith found his calling somewhere between Earth and space. The would-be astronaut pursued a career in military aviation and landed what may be the dream job of many a young man or woman. Major Smith was an F-15E pilot stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. After serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom – and not satisfied with just any dream job, Major Smith secured perhaps the ultimate dream job. He served as the Air Combat Command Strike Eagle Demonstration Team pilot and Commander spending his days showcasing America’s F-15E Strike Eagle to more than seven million people across the world. There is no doubting the accomplishments of Major Phillip A. “Ritz” Smith as he is only the second Air Force pilot ever chosen to be a demo pilot for this amazing machine.