›Kyle T. Alfriend Astrodynamics Symposium

For more than forty years, Dr. Kyle T. (Terry) Alfriend has been making key contributions to our understanding of the flight mechanics and control of space vehicles. His career includes an unusually rich mix of experience in academia, industry and government. His innovations appear prominently in subjects as diverse as analytical celestial mechanics, satellite formation flying, attitude dynamics and control, surveillance of space, probabilistic problems in astrodynamics including probability-of-collision formulations used by NASA to ensure safety of manned space flight, and application of space systems to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. It is remarkable that papers from every phase of his career continue to be cited regularly at conferences and in journals. In addition to his academic and industrial posts, Dr. Alfriend has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Astronautical Sciences and as Associate Editor of the International Journal of Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy. Our profession has recognized Dr. Alfriend with many high honors, including election to the National Academy of Engineering, election to the
International Academy of Astronautics, and citation with the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award. He is a Fellow of both the AIAA and the AAS and has received both the Mechanics and Control of Flight Award and the Dirk Brouwer Award from these societies. In 2005, he received the AAAS International Scientific Cooperation Award for his decade-long efforts to organize the US/Russian Space Surveillance Workshop series. He continues today as one of the two principal American organizers of this unique contribution to international understanding. Currently, Dr. Alfriend is the Texas Engineering Experiment Station Distinguished Research Chair Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University and a Visiting Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School.

A special symposium will be held 17 – 19 May 2010 at the Monterey Plaza Hotel in Monterey, California, to honor Dr. Alfriend for his many contributions to our field. This event is sponsored by the American Astronautical Society (AAS) Space Flight Mechanics Committee and is open to everyone. The organizers are Drs. Kim Luu, Shannon Coffey, John Junkins, Chris Sabol, Paul Schumacher, and Mike Ross.