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nor did he have an opportunity to practice the event.  Nonetheless, he navigated directly to the ship and made a successful landing on the first pass.  His co-pilot, Jay Coburn, is a highly respected professional who brought a wealth of experience to the planning and execution of this milestone flight.

In the field of air and space, certain events--the first flight across the ocean, the first flight around the world, the first landing on the moon, the first flight of a helicopter around the world--are inevitably a union of technical achievement and the human spirit.  In every case, at the first moment when the technical possibility was first realizable, brave pioneers stepped forward to be the first.  Thus it was with H. Ross Perot, Jr., and Jay Coburn, whose brilliant planning and pilotage combined with the technical excellence of the "Spirit of Texas" for this record setting flight.

The Langley Medal, named in honor of the third Secretary of the Smithsonian, is given by the Institution "to encourage aviation" by recognizing contributions to aeronautics and astronautics both through original research and significant accomplishments.  Previous awardees have been:

1909 Wilbur Wright
Orville Wright
1913 Glenn H. Curtiss
Gustave Eiffel
1927 Col. Charles A. Lindbergh
1929 Adm. Richard E. Byrd
Charles Manly
1935 Dr. Joseph S. Ames, NACA
1955 Dr. Jerome C. Hunsaker, NACA
1960 Dr. Robert H. Goddard
1962 Dr. Hugh L. Dryden
1964 Comdr. Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN
1967 Dr. Wernher von Braun
1971 Lt. Gen. Samuel C. Phillips, USAF
1976 James E. Webb
Grover Loening
1981 Stark Draper
R. T. Jones