NASA recognizes Ball's CALIPSO mission

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.'s Carl Weimer will be awarded NASA's Distinguished Public Service Medal during a ceremony May 8, for his work on the Cloud-Aerosol LIDAR and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) mission.

One of NASA's most prestigious honors, the award is presented to select individuals and groups, both government and non-government, who have made outstanding contributions to NASA. Weimer served as Ball's technical manager for CALIPSO, leading development of the satellite payload. He continues to support the mission as additional scientific rewards are realized from CALIPSO, including ocean winds and subsurface measurements for plankton, plant growth and turbidity. CALIPSO is a mission dedicated to studying the impact that clouds and aerosols have on the Earth's climate.

"This recognition is an honor for me, and a testament to the outstanding team efforts that continue to make the CALIPSO mission so successful," said Weimer. Weimer's award is the highest honor given by NASA to non-government employees, and is bestowed only when the contribution is so extraordinary that other forms of recognition would be inadequate. The NASA award is presented for unusual initiative or creative ability that clearly demonstrates substantial improvement in engineering, aeronautics, space flight, administration, support, or space-related endeavors.

This is the third NASA Distinguished Medal award for Ball employees in the past three years. Paul Lightsey was acknowledged in 2007 for his contributions to the James Webb Space Telescope, and Monte Henderson for the Deep Impact mission in 2006.