Lyon to receive Debus award Saturday

John R. "Dick" Lyon, vice president of Florida operations and program manager for ASRC Aerospace Corporation, has been selected by the National Space Club Florida Committee to receive its 2009 Dr. Kurt H. Debus Award. Lyon will be honored at the Debus Award Dinner on Saturday. The formal event, which begins at 6:30 p.m., will be at the Debus Conference Facility at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

"The Space Club is proud to honor Dick for this prestigious award," National Space Club Chair Roy Tharpe said in a statement. "Dick's almost 50 year service to our nation’s space program has spanned from his work for NASA during the Apollo era with Dr. Debus to his current role at ASRC, which is supporting the next era of human spaceflight. His dedication toward excellence has been both steadfast and noteworthy in its influence in our space program."

The Debus Award was created by the National Space Club Florida Committee to recognize significant achievements and contributions made in Florida to American aerospace efforts. It is named for KSC's first director, Dr. Kurt H. Debus.

In Lyon’s present role as vice president and leader of an ASRC Aerospace team of 600, he supports NASA in the design and development of KSC ground checkout and servicing systems for the nation's next human space flight endeavor to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. From 1997 to 2003, he led an Engineering Development Contract run by Dynacs Engineering Company at KSC that received a special agency-wide award for the most significant innovation of the year, a design that allowed a timely and safe repair of the Space Shuttle at the launch pad.



Before his industry roles, Lyon had a 34-year career as a KSC civil servant, with leadership positions as a senior executive for 17 years. This included serving as Chief of the Shuttle Design Project Office, Director of Project Engineering, Director of Mechanical and Structural Engineering, and Deputy Director of Design Engineering through the turnover of the Launch Complex 39B Shuttle launch pad. He was also Deputy Director of Payload Operations during the Spacelab and Hubbell Space Telescope timeframe, was the KSC Program Manager for Space Station, and retired as the Director of Logistics.

Arriving at KSC in 1964, Lyon was assigned the role of planning and managing the layout of ground servicing equipment for the Apollo and Lunar Module spacecraft at Launch Complexes 34, 37, and 39. In this role he worked with many NASA icons, leading design review discussions with Dr. Debus and Dr. Von Braun and familiarizing Dr. George Low and the Apollo astronauts with the Mobile Launcher and launch pad. As the Project Manager for the Space Nuclear Power and Lunar Surface Experiments, Lyon worked directly with Dr. Debus to establish ground-breaking policy for handling nuclear materials at KSC. As the KSC expert, he worked directly with the Atomic Energy Commission and was among those who briefed President Jimmy Carter and the seven original Mercury astronauts during their visits to KSC.

During the early '70s, as an employee in the Shuttle Engineering Project Office, Lyon negotiated KSC's role for developing unique ground support systems with the NASA flight hardware development centers, which resulted in establishing KSC's responsibilities for ground systems development. He moved into roles of increasing responsibility in Design Engineering while leading the design and implementation of KSC Space Shuttle facilities and systems such as the landing facility and pads A and B at Launch Complex 39.

As KSC's Space Station Program Manager, Lyon took on the task of convincing senior NASA management to build the current Space Station Processing Facility. He continued to provide leadership for the design and implementation of the SSPF, which could successfully test and integrate almost any space payload configuration.

Lyon has also served in many other capacities during his KSC career including President of the NASA Kennedy Management Association, Chairman of the 27th Space Congress, Chairman of the Center Awards Committee, and was a featured speaker at numerous events including a Nickelodeon TV production on the Space Station.

The Debus award was conceived and first presented in 1990 as an adjunct to the Robert J. Goddard award, given each year by the National Space Club in Washington, D.C. to an individual who stood out in the aerospace field on a national level. The Award focuses on efforts in Florida and includes individuals associated with launch vehicles, spacecraft operations, ground support services, range activities, space education and spaceport research and development. Each honoree is presented with a copy of the Debus Award Trophy, a stainless steel kinetic sculpture dubbed "Ribbon of Space" by its contemporary artist creator Elijah David Herschler.


For reservations contact LaDonna Neterer at 383-6135 or e-mail LaDonna.J.Neterer@boeing.com. For further information on the NSC visit www.nscfl.org[