2022 Laureate Award Winners: Space

Continuing a 65-year tradition of honoring innovators, extraordinary achievements and exemplary leadership in the aerospace, defense and aviation industries, Aviation Week Network’s editors announce the winners of the 2022 Laureate Awards. Scroll through this gallery to see the four winners for space.

For more information on attending this year’s Laureate Awards Gala and a list of past winners dating back to 1957, go to laureates.aviationweek.com.

After 25 years of development, the James Webb Space Telescope finally launched into space, unfolded into place and, in July 2022, started sending back full-color images and spectroscopic data about the infrared universe. It is delivering the deepest images of the universe ever captured and peering into the atmosphere of exoplanets.

In August 2021, months before Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, Maxar Technologies released satellite imagery showing the buildup of forces, providing evidence to counter Russia’s claims that it had no plans to invade. Throughout the war, Maxar, allied governments and scores of other commercial space companies have shared data to assist Ukraine and reveal war crimes and human rights violations.

Peter Beck is not afraid to eat his hat if that is what it takes to adapt and grow Rocket Lab, the space launch and services company he founded in 2006. Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket is now the second most frequently launched rocket in the West, and the company is expanding its operations with the medium-lift Neutron rocket, new launch sites, satellite manufacturing and responsive space services.

Kerry Buckley led the team that created a space risk registry and management system. Simulating the increasingly crowded environment between the ground and outer space, this system calculates the risk to space operators, indicates where government regulation will provide benefit and pinpoints where industry could develop best practices without waiting for government.

Since its inception in 1957, Aviation Week Network’s Laureate Awards have honored extraordinary achievements in aerospace. Innovators that represent the values and vision of the global aerospace community have changed the way people work, and move through the world. Don’t miss your chance to celebrate these astonishing achievements!
 
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