NASA Presents Safety Award to John Michael Rollins

HOUSTON, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has presented its Quality and Safety Achievement Recognition, or QASAR, award for 2009 to John Michael Rollins of Houston.

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A NASA contractor employee of Jacobs Technology, Rollins received the award for assessing the risk of debris impact damage to the space shuttle and another spacecraft.

Rollins proposed, designed and conducted a series of complex tests with thermal protection system materials and flight-like sensors to detect micrometeoroid and orbital debris damage for the Orion spacecraft. He also has recommended numerous ways to improve in-orbit procedures for inspecting the space shuttle's wing leading edges for damage from external tank foam insulation during launch.

"Receiving the QASAR award is a wonderful honor," said Rollins. "I owe a great debt – and so does the U.S. space program – to the leading-edge imagery processing, screening and disposition teams that have worked so tirelessly and effectively in the Mission Control Center to ensure crew safety."

Rollins was recognized along with two other recipients Feb. 10 at the agency's seventh annual Project Management Challenge in Galveston, Texas.

"The Shuttle Program's trust in Mike and his team's meticulous work allows it to focus on the core business of living and working in space," said Tracy Calhoun, NASA lead for the Image Science and Analysis Group at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The QASAR award recognizes individual government and contractor employees who have demonstrated exemplary performance in contributing to the quality or safety of products, services, processes, or management programs and activities.

For more information about the Quality and Safety Achievement Recognition award program, visit:

www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/qasar/

SOURCE NASA