The 2005 Wernher von Braun Memorial Award was presented to Burt Rutan in a ceremony with Konrad Dannenberg, one of the original rocket scientists that worked with Wernher von Braun to land American astronauts on the Moon.

Driven by the same dream that inspired Von Braun’s team — a permanent human presence in space — Rutan captured the $10 million Ansari X Prize last October by designing, building and launching the world’s first private, reusable passenger spacecraft, SpaceShipOne. Rutan’s company, Scaled Composites, is now designing a fleet of personal spacecraft for Sir Richard Branson’s space tourism company, Virgin Galactic.

“Burt Rutan’s historic achievement picks up where Wernher von Braun and our team left off,” said Dannenberg, one of the leading propulsion experts on the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. “But instead of a space race with the Soviets, space tourism and entrepreneurs are driving this new space program. By giving people hope again for a long-term future in space, Burt Rutan is the natural choice for this award.”