The Karman Project Team Gathers in Paris to Celebrate Hélène Huby's National Order of Merit
The Karman Project team gathered in Paris on March 13th, 2026, to celebrate The Karman Project Chair Hélène Huby's Ordre national du Mérite (National Order of Merit) Ceremony. The membership is determined by nomination of prior Order of Merit recipients, and ultimately awarded by the President of the French Republic. In recognition of her academic background, Hélène elected to have the ceremony at École Normale Supérieure Paris, her alma mater.
In a particularly heartfelt and symbolic moment, the Order of Merit was officially bestowed to Hélène by none other than Jean-Jacques Dordain, the Vice Chair of The Karman Project and Chairman of the Fellowship Selection Board. He spoke beautifully about Hélène's unique talents and drive to build cooperative space ventures across Europe, and indeed, the world. Jean-Jacques noted that with the upcoming selection of the seventh Cohort of Karman Fellows, the Fellowship will have over 100 distinguished alumni: a "peaceful marching army" exemplifying the leadership required to forge a cooperative future in space. He concluded with the sentiment that The Karman Project was crucial both upon its founding and even more so now.
The Karman Project team, consisting of Managing Director Hannah Ashford, Fundraising and Partnerships Director Öykü Gürsu, Treasurer Artur Koop, and Program Coordinator Adrian Flynn, were humbled to attend this ceremony and congratulate Hélène on a distinctive career.
As a staff that works remotely from across the globe, the opportunity to gather in one of the world's finest cities proved a lovely occasion. While in Paris, the Karman team also met with CNES, Skynopy, and Astroscale, in addition to scoping out potential ceremony sites for the Space Peace Prize Inaugural Ceremony.
