NWS Spaceflight Meteorology Group Lead Forecaster Timothy Oram (center).
NWS Spaceflight Meteorology Group Lead Forecaster Timothy Oram was honored by receiving a NASA "Individual Achievement" award for his work supporting the STS-119 Space Shuttle mission in March, 2009.
The award recognized Tim "For his outstanding and accurate meteorological assessment and forecast of the challenging End-of-Mission meteorological conditions at the Kennedy Space Center." The award was presented to Tim Oram at the STS-119 Astronaut Crew Debrief on April 23, 2009.
Tim Oram was the SMG Lead Forecaster on STS-119, Discovery, which launched March 15 and landed March 28, 2009. The Shuttle landing forecast was very challenging on March 28.
Low clouds were the primary concern. Based on SMG's forecast, NASA "waved off" the first landing opportunity at Kennedy Space Center. For the second landing opportunity, the SMG team, led by Mr. Oram, forecast marginally "GO" weather for landing.
The Flight Director in Mission Control in Houston made the decision to land at KSC, rather than leave the Shuttle in orbit for another day. After the deorbit burn for landing, low clouds increased at KSC. At landing time, cloud coverage was within Flight Rule limits, and Discovery landed safely.
SMG website: www.srh.noaa.gov/smg
SMG Post-Mission Summary: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/smg/119_Post-Mission_Summary.pdf
