Honors and Awards
In 2011, Stafford was awarded the National Aeronautic Association Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, the most prestigious honor in aviation, which is presented annually to a living American for "significant public service of enduring value to aviation in the United States." He also received the Air Force Association's Lifetime Achievement Award on September 21, 2011.
Stafford's many military decorations and awards include the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Air Force Commendation Medal and Air Force Outstanding Unit Award ribbon with three oak leaf clusters.
Other awards presented to Stafford include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, NASA Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, NASA Exceptional Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Chanute Flight Award (1976), the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Space Award, National Geographic Society's General Thomas D. White USAF Space Trophy (1975), and the Federal Aeronautique Internationale Gold Space Medal. In 1966, he was co-recipient of the AIAA Award, and in 1969 he received the National Academy of Television Arts and Science Special Trustees Award. On 12 April 2011, Stafford received the Russian Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" "for outstanding contribution to the development of international cooperation in manned space flight".
Stafford received the Harmon International Aviation Trophy twice—in 1966 for piloting Gemini 6, and in 1976 trophy was presented jointly to Stafford and comonaut Alexei Leonov for their work on ASTP.
In 1979, Stafford was awarded the Society of Experimental Test Pilots James H. Doolittle Award. On January 19, 1993, he received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
He is the recipient of several honorary degrees. These include a doctorate of science from Oklahoma City University; a doctorate of laws, Western State University, Gunnison, Colorado; a doctorate of communications, Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts; and a doctorate of aeronautical engineering, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida.
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