OREANDA-NEWS. April 21, 2009. One of the most prestigious US awards was given today in Roscosmos to Aleksei Leonov, cosmonaut of the first Russian corps and holder of two Hero of the Soviet Union awards.

The Elmer A. Sperry award commemorates the life and achievements of Elmer Ambrose Sperry, whose genius and perseverance contributed so much to so many types of transportation. The Elmer A. Sperry Award is given in recognition of a distinguished engineering contribution which, through application, proved in actual service, has advanced the art of transportation whether by land, sea or air. This year, The Elmer A. Sperry award is given for Soyuz-19/Apollo docking technology. This historical docking happened on July 17, 1975, and influenced evolution of the international space programs a lot.

The award was also given to the daughters of Konstantin Bushuev (awarded posthumously), who led development and tests of the docking assembly.
The ceremony was attended by Anatoly Perminov, Head of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Vitaly Davyidov, Stats Secretary and Deputy Head of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Thomas Stafford, retired Air Force Lieutenant General and a former NASA astronaut, one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon, who flew in Soyuz-Apollo together with Aleksei Leonov.