Gary Flandro, Professor Emeritus at the University of Tennessee Space Institute, has been honored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) for his outstanding achievement in the development or application of rocket propulsion systems. Paul Gloyer of Gloyer-Taylor Laboratories submitted the nomination.

The Propulsion Award and the James H. Wyld Memorial Award honoring the developer of the regeneratively-cooled rocket engine were combined in 1964 to become the James H. Wyld Propulsion Award. In 1975 the name was again modified to the Wyld Propulsion Award, which is now presented for outstanding achievement in the development or application of rocket propulsion systems. This annual award is generally presented at the AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum.

The citation for the award reads: “For exceptional contributions to the knowledge base and technology implementation of rocket propulsion and astronautics, especially in solid and liquid propellant rocket combustion instability and interior ballistics.”

Flandro received an engraved medal and a certificate citation award at the AIAA Propulsion and Energy Form and Exposition (AIAA Propulsion and Energy 2016), on Wednesday, 27 July 2016, held at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Flandro received his M.S. degree from California Institute of Technology in 1960 and his PhD from California Institute of Technology in 1967. Flandro came to the University of Tennessee in 1991 when he was appointed to the Boling Chair of Excellence. He kept that position until he retired in December 2009. He is Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He was awarded the NASA Exception Achievement Medal in 1998 “for seminal contributions to the design and engineering of multi-outer-planet missions, including the Grand Tour opportunity for the epic Voyager explorations.”

AIAA Honors and Awards Chairman, George K. Muellner, right, presents Gary Flandro with the James H. Wyld Propulsion Award at the AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum in Salt Lake City, Utah.