The De la Vaulx Medal is an award of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) presented to holders of recognized absolute world records in aeronautics and astronautics. The medal was established in 1933 in memory of Comte Henry de la Vaulx, a founder-member and former president of the FAI.
Under the FAI statutes, De la Vaulx Medals are awarded automatically to all holders of recognized absolute world records established during the preceding year, with no restriction on the number of medals that may be awarded. FAI medals and diplomas are normally presented at the opening ceremony of the organization's annual General Conference.
History and criteria
The medal commemorates Comte Henry de la Vaulx, one of the founders of the FAI and a former president of the organization. De la Vaulx was killed in an aircraft accident while on a mission promoting aviation. The FAI established the medal in his memory in 1933.
Unlike FAI awards that require nominations and selection, the De la Vaulx Medal is conferred automatically when an absolute world record is recognized by the FAI. The statutes place no limit on the number of medals that may be awarded in a year.
The medal is not limited to conventional aircraft records. It has also been awarded for astronautic records, including accumulated spaceflight time and the assembled mass of spacecraft linked in flight,
Selected recipients
The following is an incomplete list of recipients. The table is ordered by the year in which the qualifying absolute world record was established rather than by the year in which the medal was presented. Record year Recipient(s) Record 1933 Francesco Agello Absolute speed record of over a 3 km course, set on 10 April 1933 in a Macchi M.C.72. 1934 Francesco Agello Absolute speed record of over a 3 km course, set on 23 October 1934 in a Macchi M.C.72. 1937 Mikhail Gromov, Andrey Yumashev and Sergey Danilin The nonstop transpolar flight from Moscow to San Jacinto, California, which established a straight-line distance record of . 1951 Fred Ascani World speed record over a 100 km closed course in a North American F-86E Sabre, at approximately . 1961 Yuri Gagarin Three FAI-ratified world records during Vostok 1: flight duration of 1 h 48 min, altitude of , and lifted to that altitude. 1965 Robert L. Stephens Absolute speed and altitude records in a Lockheed YF-12: over a straight 15/25 km course and in horizontal flight, set on 1 May 1965. 1969 Rusty Schweickart Absolute record for duration outside a spacecraft, 47 min 1 sec, during Apollo 9. 1971 David Scott Absolute record for total time outside a spacecraft by one crewman while on the lunar surface, 18 h 18 min 26 sec, during Apollo 15. 1974 Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson, William Pogue Absolute spaceflight duration record of 84 d 1 h 15 min 30.8 sec and absolute distance record of , set during Skylab 4. 1975 Vance D. Brand Absolute records for duration, distance and altitude in group flight during the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project. 1982 Vance D. Brand Absolute record for greatest mass lifted to altitude, , set by the STS-5 crew on 11 November 1982. 1986 Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager Absolute distance record of during the first nonstop, non-refuelled circumnavigation of the world by aircraft, flying the Rutan Voyager. 1994 Robert D. Cabana, Leroy Chiao Absolute spaceflight duration record of 14 d 17 h 54 min 50 sec, set by the STS-65 crew on 23 July 1994. 1996 William F. Readdy Absolute record for assembled mass of spacecraft linked in flight, , set by STS-79 and Mir 22 on 26 September 1996. 2002 Crews of STS-112 and the International Space Station Absolute astronautic record for assembled mass of spacecraft linked in flight, , established on 18 October 2002. 2015 Alberto Porto Absolute speed record of over a straight course, set on 16 December 2015 in a Risen, together with Sara Della Moretta. 2015 Gennady Padalka Absolute record for accumulated spaceflight time of 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes and 24 seconds, reached on 12 September 2015. 2018 James M. Payne and Timothy Gardner Absolute altitude record of , set on 2 September 2018. 2021 Airbus Zephyr Programme Absolute unmanned-aircraft endurance record of 454 hours and 30 minutes, set on 13 September 2021. See also
List of aviation awards List of flight airspeed records List of flight distance records Louis Blériot Medal
References
External links