The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has selected ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 mission as one of the recipient's of its annual, AIAA SPACE 2009, awards, which recognize key contributions to space science and technology.

The awards will be presented on 16 September as part of the AIAA SPACE 2009 Conference & Exposition, 14 September, at the Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, California.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering and was founded in 1963 from the merger of two earlier societies: the American Rocket Society (ARS), founded in 1930 as the American Interplanetary Society (AIS), and the Institute of Aerospace Sciences (IAS), founded in 1932 as the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences.

The AIAA is the US representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council on the Aeronautical Sciences.

As of 2004, the AIAA has more than 35,000 members and despite its name, it has members among aerospace professionals worldwide.

A release from the institute said the Chandrayaan-1 mission, India Space Research Organization (ISRO), Bangalore, India, will receive the AIAA 2009 Space Systems Award.

Mylaswamy Annadurai, project director, ISRO headquarters, will accept the award on behalf of the team, which is being honoured for its outstanding accomplishments in the design, development, launch and operations of India's first scientific mission, Chandrayaan-1, operating beyond earth's orbit.

The institute will also honour Gird Hirzinger, director, Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics the DLR German Aerospace Center with the 2009 Space Automation and Robotics Award. Hirzinger is being honoured for his outstanding contributions in the field of space automation and robotics, especially for his establishment and leadership of the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics at the DLR German Aerospace Center, and his work on the ROTEX, GETEX, and ROKVISS space robotic programs.

The Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS-I) Recovery Team, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., and Boeing Space and Intelligent Systems, El Segundo, Calif., will receive the AIAA 2009 Space Operations and Support Award.

Jeffery Gamling, NASA Recovery Team Lead, and Douglas Bender, Boeing Space and Intelligent Systems Recovery Team Lead, will accept the award on behalf of both teams.

The teams are being honoured for their outstanding efforts, innovation and outstanding accomplishments in the recovery of the TDRS-I satellite from its geosynchronous transfer orbit to its placement into the intended orbit resulting in its successful operation supporting spacecraft communications.

The institute will also honour Kenneth Lipartito, professor of history at the Florida International University, Miami, Fla., and Orville Butler, associate historian at the Center for History of Physics at the American Institute of Physics, College Park, Md., with the AIAA 2009 Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Award.

Lipartito and Butler are being honoured for their work entitled ''A History of the Kennedy Space Center.''

The AIAA SPACE 2009 Conference and Exhibition is co-chaired by NASA and the US Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, and sponsored by Orbital Sciences Corporation and Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Additional sponsors include The Boeing Company, SpaceX, United Space Alliance, Stellar Solutions, Ball Aerospace Technologies, Harris Corporation, and The Aerospace Corporation.