"Orbit was achieved with the first burn terminating at 330.5 km altitude and 8.99 degree inclination. The goal for initial insertion was a 330 km altitude and a 9.0 degree inclination, so this was right on target! Accuracy far exceeded our expectations, particularly given that this was the first time Falcon 1 reached orbit.
The primary purpose of the second burn was to test the restart capability and then burn as long as possible. The upper stage coasted for 43.5 minutes and then burned for 6.8 seconds, which is 4 seconds longer than needed to circularize. Most of the burn was actually done sideways to avoid creating a highly elliptical orbit, hence a change in inclination to 9.3 degrees. The final orbit, confirmed by U.S. Space Command, was 621 km by 643 km. As an added bonus, we picked up several minutes of video and data from the upper stage when it passed over Kwajalein one orbit later, which showed the stage to be in good condition."
The AIAA award comes from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), which presented five awards for key contributions to space science and technology during the AIAA SPACE 2008 Conference & Exposition, held September 9–11 at the San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, California. Elon Musk, CEO and chief technology officer, SpaceX, Hawthorne, California, received the AIAA George Low Space Transportation Award presented for a timely outstanding contribution to the field of space transportation. Musk was recognized for his outstanding contribution to the development of commercial space transportation systems using innovative low-cost approaches.