June 17th, 2010 
While “ordinary citizens” are honored by the Queen of the Netherlands for outstanding conduct with a title or membership within the Order of Oranje-Nassau, the title of the Order of the Netherlands Lion surpasses that recognition. This past April, Governor Fredis Refunjol of Aruba announced that Dr. Edward Cheung was the first Caribbean-born Dutch citizen to ever be awarded this esteemed title. On Saturday morning, June 12, a special ceremony was held for Dr. Cheung and his family, attended also by island dignitaries including Prime Minister Mike Eman and his wife, Doina; Minister of Public Health and Sports, Richard Visser; Minister of Environment, Immigration and Infrastructure, Benny Zevinger; and Secretary to the Council of Ministers, Nicole Hoevertsz.
Dr. Cheung resides in Maryland, close to the Goddard Space Center, where he is Principal Engineer of the Hubble Space Telescope Service Project. He has not only participated in the last space shuttle mission to the telescope in May 2009, but also devised the ASCS/NCS Relay Unit Breaker Assembly (ARUBA box) used during emergency repairs to the Hubble in 2002. During the last Hubble mission, the Wide Field Camera III was installed, a project that consumed nearly eight years of Dr. Cheung’s life but is now providing scientists and astronomers with never before seen images of deep space.
During visits to his homeland, Dr. Cheung holds free lectures to the community to discuss the NASA space program and the Hubble Space Telescope to motivate and inspire interest in science and education among island youth.
