Last October, when ANN
Editor-in-Chief, Jim Campbell, was announced as one of the four
founding pilots of the Rocket Racing League, he remarked that he
often compared X Prize Founder Peter Diamandis to the pivotal
character in Robert Heinlein's (pictured right) amazing story of a
fictional space entrepeneur, in "The Man Who Sold The Moon."
Apparently, Jim is not the only to make such a connection....
Trustees of the Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust have
awarded the first-ever Heinlein Prize to Dr. Peter H. Diamandis.
The Heinlein Prize was founded to reward individuals for making
practical contributions to the commercialization of space. Dr.
Diamandis will be honored at a dinner and award ceremony on July 7,
2006 at the St. Regis Hotel in Houston, Texas and receive $500,000,
a gold Heinlein Medallion, the Lady Vivamus Sword (as described in
Heinlein's book Glory Road ) and a Laureate's Diploma.
"Dr. Diamandis' accomplishments have started space settlement
and commerce," explains Art Dula, Trustee and literary executor of
the Heinlein Estate.
"He has catalyzed space activities by hundreds of people and
organizations all over the Earth who are creating a proud and
prosperous future for humanity."
Diamandis is a pioneer and leader in the commercial space arena.
In the past 25 years he started more than a dozen leading
non-profit and for-profit space organizations. Diamandis is best
known as Founder and Chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation, whose $10
million Ansari X PRIZE sparked the birth of the personal
spaceflight industry.
Robert Heinlein published over one hundred novels, short
stories, and articles. He won six Hugo awards and has had his work
adapted into four movies and five television series. The most
prevalent theme underlying all his works is the practical benefit
of man's activities in space. The majority of his works were
published long before Neil Armstrong first set foot upon the Moon,
writing against prevailing opinions of the time that declared such
an endeavor as both impractical and impossible.
Many of those who grew
up reading his stories are scattered throughout the aerospace
industry worldwide and have gone on to make significant progress
towards man's expansion into space. Many testify today that they
were first inspired by Robert Heinlein and his writings to pursue
careers connected to space.
"There is no question that Heinlein's work has inspired and
driven me during my career," said Dr. Diamandis. "His novella, The
Man who Sold the Moon, is my favorite story. In fact, I flew it as
personal cargo aboard SpaceShipOne during the winning Ansari X
PRIZE flight on October 4 th, 2004."
Diamandis' contributions to the commercialization of space began
while studying molecular genetics as an undergraduate at MIT. In
1980 he founded the Students for the Exploration and Development of
Space (SEDS), which has since become the largest student-based
space organization in the world. He went on to earn a Master's
degree in Aerospace Engineering from MIT, concurrently with a
Medical Degree from Harvard.
Another major accomplishment was the founding of the
International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg, France. Since
1987 the ISU has provided graduate-level training to over 2,200
future leaders of the emerging global space community from 87
countries. The ISU is the embodiment of Dr. Diamandis' vision of a
peaceful, prosperous and boundless future through the study,
exploration and development of space for the benefit of all
humanity.
"Initially I wanted to be a NASA Astronaut and that dream drove
me to collect numerous degrees, private pilot and scuba ratings,"
said Diamandis (pictured below, aboard Zero-G Corporation's G-Force
One).
"But along the way I committed myself to traveling to space
privately. I believe opening the space frontier is critical for the
future of humanity, and making space a viable commercial endeavor
is paramount to opening this frontier. My philosophy has been that
the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself."
NTSB Final Report: Cozy Cub
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