Cook, who works at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, received the award in the prime-contractor employee category.

The QASAR Award recognizes individuals from NASA, other government agencies or contractors for significant quality improvements to NASA products, services or safety initiatives.

The senior extravehicular safety engineer consistently provided outstanding expertise on issues related to Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) hardware, and developed safety and mission assurance products to recertify essential components. SAFER hardware is the only self-rescue device EVA crews have in the event they become untethered from the space shuttle or station. This hardware is especially critical for International Space Station-docked operations where the shuttle is unable to undock to rescue a crewmember.

SAIC is a leading provider of scientific, engineering, systems integration and technical services and solutions to all branches of the U.S. military, agencies of the Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other U.S. Government civil agencies, as well as to customers in selected commercial markets. With more than 44,000 employees in over 150 cities worldwide, SAIC engineers and scientists solve complex technical challenges requiring innovative solutions for customers’ mission-critical functions.