NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has been awarded the prestigious 2011 Stellar Award by the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation. The award ceremony, held in Houston, Texas, recognizes missions and individuals whose accomplishments hold the greatest promise for furthering future activities in space. Suzanne Dodd, the Project Manager for Spitzer, accepted the award on behalf of the mission.

Spitzer was recognized for "outstanding innovation, dedication, and technical excellence by the Spitzer Space Telescope Project Team enabling both engineering and scientific firsts from which the next generation of astrophysics missions will benefit."