Gallery: A Retrospective On Aviation Week Network's Laureate Award Winners (2000s)

For correctly gauging the commuter airline industry’s shift from turboprops to jets, transforming Embraer into the world’s fourth largest commercial aircraft builder.

For deploying the high-altitude, endurance unmanned aircraft to support the war in Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

For flying around the world solo in a balloon, a feat that took six tries and nearly 10 years to achieve. 

For the first flight of a Chinese manned space mission in October 2003, making China the third nation with a human spaceflight capability.

For Scaled Composites’ SpaceShipOne, the first privately funded, manned space flight and winner of the Ansari X Prize.

For its technical achievement in bringing the mega-transport to its first flight in April 2005.

For being the driving force behind the Pentagon’s commitment to furthering hypersonic flight through the X-51A demonstrator project.

For stimulating the marketplace by expanding the offerings of the world’s most extensive line of business and general aviation aircraft.

For his work in the dawn of commercial space transportation, investing millions in Falcon 1, the first privately financed liquid-fueled launch vehicle to orbit a payload.

For making the transition from the largest space construction project in history to the first laboratory for long-duration experiments in microgravity.