Gina Sunseri, a Houston-based ABC News Producer, received the prestigious 2024 Space Communicator Award from the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) Foundation on April 26, 2024, at the Houston Hyatt Regency.
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"Being in the same company as previous honorees is truly humbling," Sunseri said in a statement. "I have always tried to make the space program engaging for our viewers—and to share the curiosity, hard work, creativity, and passion of the people who fulfill our desire to explore. I am fascinated by the small stories-- the cat videos from space. The lost tomato. The astronaut who had spicy shrimp cocktail for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of his mission. And of course, Suni Williams’ cutting her ponytail in space for charity."
A trusted fixture on the ABC News space beat for more than two decades, Sunseri started covering the space program in 1996 when one of her earliest assignments was to cover astronaut Shannon Lucid - the only American woman to live aboard the Mir space station. Since then, Gina has produced or contributed to hundreds of articles and broadcast news segments covering Space Shuttle launches, spacewalks, commercial space flight, the International Space Station, five Mars missions, and the much-anticipated Artemis II mission scheduled to launch in 2025.
"For over two decades, Gina Sunseri has set a high bar for outstanding coverage of our nation’s space programs, educating millions of
Americans through her thoughtful and expert productions for ABC News," Mark Carreau, Aviation Week & Space Technology Houston Correspondent, and 2006 Space Communicator Award recipient who nominated Sunseri said.
"Her deep understanding of the space program is evident in stories that often provide angles that other media miss," Veronica McGregor, Digital News and Media Manager for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and 2013 Space Communicator Award recipient, said. "Her dedication to covering the space beat has benefitted the industry as well as ABC and millions of viewers."
After the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, Sunseri extensively covered the seven astronauts lost aboard STS-107, NASA’s investigation of the disaster, and the safety measures implemented before the 2005 Return to Flight. She played a crucial role in the ABC News team that earned an Emmy Award for their investigative report titled "Columbia Final Mission," which aired on "Primetime Thursday."
When she's not pursuing stories or conducting interviews, Sunseri enjoys travel, weather, music, and gardening. She is happily married to retired KPRC photographer John Treadgold and is a mother of two.
The RNASA Space Communicator Award, established in 1997 in honor of KTRK, Houston Channel 13 space reporter and long-time RNASA Advisor Stephen Gauvain, who tragically died in a car accident in 1996, recognizes individuals or teams for outstanding contributions to public understanding and appreciation of space exploration.
Previous recipients of the award include William Harwood of CBS; Miles O'Brien, formerly of CNN; Elliot Pulham of the Space Foundation; the NASA-Contractor Communications team that responded to the Columbia accident; Mark Carreau, formerly of the Houston Chronicle; Neil deGrasse Tyson of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History; Veronica McGregor, Manager of News and Social Media at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Chris A. Hadfield, former Canadian Space Agency astronaut; Bill Nye (the science guy), CEO of the Planetary Society; Rob Navias, Public Affairs Officer (PAO) Mission commentator; William Shatner, actor, author, producer, and director; and Bill Ingalls, senior NASA photographer.
