Nasa honours Kiwi for space engineering

An artist's concept of the ExoMars Mars Rover to be used on the planet in 2011.

When the space shuttle Discovery ascended to the International Space Station last year it carried a souvenir from Downunder - a New Zealand flag.

Gisborne-born Lester Waugh was presented with this flag last week by senior Nasa scientists to recognise his work in lunar exploration.

The recognition is a career highlight for the 54-year-old aeronautics engineer, who is working on ExoMars Rover, a robot vehicle to be used on Mars in 2011.

The flag was on Discovery when it delivered the Japanese Kibo pressurised module to the space station between May and June last year.

Mr Waugh is employed by the European Aeronautic and Defence Space Company in Britain but for the past 15 months he has worked part-time with scientists from the Johnson Space Centre of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

His work for Nasa, which involved planning the placement of scientific instruments on the south pole of the moon, earned him the award.

Mr Waugh was surprised by the gift of a flag which had travelled around the Earth 216 times before being framed and placed in his hands last Thursday.

"I was bowled over!" he said. "It's a very rare honour indeed to have anything that has been returned from space. Even if you are nominated, the award has to be considered and authorised by the people at Nasa HQ so I was really thrilled to receive it."

He had already received a team award from Nasa three years ago, but he said he was more sentimental about last week's recognition.

"Being an individual award makes it extra special - and the touch of the New Zealand flag makes it very personal."

His aeronautical work was not the fulfilment of his childhood imagination. His career path has touched briefly on painting, a stint as an insurance clerk, and music. After emigrating to England in 1974 he trained formally to become an opera singer.

Realising that singing might not pay the bills, he obtained degrees in computer science and later in astronautics and space engineering.