2015 Leif Erikson Exploration Awards

Icelandic president Olafur Ragnar Grimsson presents Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt with the 2015 Leif Erikson Exploration Award. (Photo: Exploration Museum / Andri Marino)

American Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt, Australian around the world sailor Jessica Watson and British exploration historian Dr. Huw Lewis-Jones have been awarded the Leif Erikson Exploration Awards by The Exploration Museum. The museum is located in the town of Húsavík on the northern coast of Iceland, thirty miles from the Arctic Circle. It is dedicated to the history of human exploration, from the early explorers to the exploration of space. The awards were announced this week at a press conference at the museum.

The Leif Erikson Exploration Award
Awarded to an explorer for a recent or a lifetime achievement in the field of exploration.

Harrison Schmitt

For his scientific work on the surface of the Moon in 1972, and for his part in the geology training of all the astronauts that walked on the Moon before him, astronaut Harrison Schmitt is awarded The Leif Erikson Exploration Award.

As the lunar module pilot of Apollo 17, he became the 12th and final Apollo astronaut to set foot on the Moon. As a geologist, he is the only professional scientist to have walked on the Moon, and the only scientist to have flown beyond low Earth orbit.

The Leif Erikson Young Explorer Award
Awarded to an explorer under the age of 35 for great achievements in exploration.

Jessica Watson

Australian sailor Jessica Watson is awarded The Leif Erikson Young Explorer Award for her 210-day voyage around the world, from October 2009 to May 2010. When she arrived back in Sydney on May 15, she became the youngest person to have completed a non-stop and unassisted southern hemisphere solo circumnavigation, at the age of 16. An inspiration to both young people and adults around the world, Jessica does regular talks about exploration and her voyage. She tells her story in the book True Spirit.

The Leif Erikson Exploration History Award
Awarded to a person or an organization that has worked to promote and preserve exploration history.

Huw Lewis-Jones

For his commitment to the history of exploration, polar guide Dr. Huw Lewis-Jones is awarded the Leif Erikson Exploration History Award. The author of many acclaimed books, his work has been published in more than a dozen languages. His heritage activity and writings on visual culture, photography and film, seafaring, mountaineering, and remote environments has earned his subjects wide international attention. His next book, Across the Arctic Ocean, is published this year by Thames & Hudson in London and New York.