From 1972, Ed Stone is a project scientist of NASA's Voyager mission, and former director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California. On Wednesday, American Astronautical Society honored with a lifetime achievement award to ED Stone. Stone received with honor, "for sustained and extraordinary contributions to America's space programs, including innovative planetary missions in support of unnamed exploration of the solar system" said society. "This award is an extraordinary honor", said Stone.

This award was given for every 10 years on the occasion of the society’s anniversary; Stone received this award in Washington. Previously this award was taken by William H. Pickering (another former director of JPL) and Wernher von Braun (a pioneer in rocket development).

Between 1991 and 2001, Stone served as JPL director, during this period of time a number of missions were launched, all while Voyager 1 and 2 soared beyond planets and headed toward the boundary of the solar system.

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