...the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Weather Service for its use of space-based systems in making life-saving predictions and issuing early warnings of calamitous weather conditions.

"While most people recognize the value of weather predictions, many don't realize how NOAA and the National Weather Service use space assets to determine the severity and risks of approaching weather events," said Space Foundation Chief Executive Officer Elliot Pulham. "The 2013 Space Achievement Award recognizes NOAA and the National Weather Service for valuable space-assisted forecasts and warnings that saved lives and allowed the protection of property throughout the year, particularly with activities in advance of Hurricane Sandy on the east coast of the United States."

The award will be presented during the opening ceremony of the 29th National Space Symposium on April 8th at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Previous recipients have included: the Hubble Space Telescope Repair Mission team; China's Shenzhou 7 Manned Space Flight Team; the United States Air Force; Bigelow Aerospace; the U.S. Titan Launch Vehicle Team; the Inertial Upper Stage Team; the SpaceShipOne Team; the Ariane 4 Launch Team; the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Teams; the NASA/Industry Galileo Space Probe Team; the men and women of United States Space Command and its component organizations; the Hubble Space Telescope Team; Sea Launch; NASA-Boeing International Space Station Team; Gen. Thomas S. Moorman, Jr., USAF, Ret.; Capt. James A Lovell, Jr., USN, Ret.; the American Astronautical Society; Air University; SpaceX and Télécoms Sans Frontières; and in 2012 Junichiro Kawaguchi, Ph.D., Senior Fellow at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) .