Scholarship Group: Memorial or Tribute

As a youngster, Brian Robert White developed a love for flying and set a goal of becoming an aviator. He spent his formative years in Brentwood, Tennessee, and graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 2009 with a degree in aerospace. While attending MTSU, Brian worked for two summers as a counselor at Aviation Challenge^® at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville. While there, he was known as “Pan” to hundreds of camp trainees. Continuing to pursue his life’s dream, Brian applied for a coveted warrant officer position with the U.S. Army and was one of only two Tennessee residents accepted into the program. He was inducted into the Army in 2010 and during his service was posted at various times to Fort Rucker, Fort Campbell and Fort Irwin. Brian also served nine months in Afghanistan, flying UH-60 Black Hawks for medical evacuations and special operations. He was also interested in public safety work and after completing his military service, would have sought a position in that field. Brian was lost in a private plane crash on July 29, 2017, one day after announcing his engagement to Rebecca Raymond, the love of his life.

Janice moved to Wilbraham, MA from Rockford, IL as a middle school student. Many in the Minnechaug Regional High School graduating class of 1973 have very distinct memories of the reserved yet self confident and brilliant “new girl”, who at the time was at least a full year younger than they were. Her academic ability immediately showed, as she excelled in every subject. When she had fulfilled all the requirements for graduation from Minnechaug, she graduated a year early with the class of ‘72.

Janice was selected for the NASA Space Program in 1991 and flew 5 missions, traveling a total of 18.8 million miles in 779 orbits over 49 days. She cited the 1962 Madeleine L’Engle novel A Wrinkle in Time as one of her first inspirations for becoming an astronaut and brought a copy on board STS-94, then gifted it to the author.

Janice passed away in 2012 at the far too young age of 55 from breast cancer. It is our desire, the Minnechaug Regional High School Class of 1973, her former friends and admirers, to preserve her memory with a scholarship to be awarded to a female Space Camp applicant, who demonstrates curiosity about our great universe, as Janice did.

The Royal Manticoran Navy seeks to provide our younger members with an experience at the Space Camp of their choice. We raise funds and accept donations to send two candidates per year. It is open to any youth member of TRMN. There is an application process and submissions are reviewed by a selection committee.

The Royal Manticoran Navy is the Official fan group for David Weber’s Honor Harrington Military Space Opera novels.

Craig Sumner built a distinguished career in the space industry beginning in 1969 on the Apollo program as a college intern.  He worked on the design and build of the Lunar Roving Vehicle, and was one of the few that actually trained the Apollo Astronauts to drive the vehicle on the Moon’s surface.  His Vietnam lottery number came up and he joined the United States Air Force, eventually flying C-130s before he was honorably discharged from the USAF in 1976 as a Captain.  He returned to Huntsville and back to NASA.  He worked payloads and various other pieces of the Space Shuttle program before he finally retired from NASA in 1997 as the Deputy Project Manager for the Space Shuttle External Tank.  After NASA, he worked for United Space Alliance and was the Chief Engineer of Space Shuttle Propulsion when he retired alongside the Space Shuttle Program in 2011.  After this retirement, he was asked to come back in support of Boeing as a Subject Matter Expert on the Thermal Protection System for the Core Stage of SLS/Artemis, finally retiring for good in 2024!

Craig passed away April 27, 2026.

Sheldon (Bud) Smith embarked on his aerospace engineering career in 1968, following his graduation with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Later, he earned a Master of Business Administration from Alabama A&M. Bud was a pioneering figure in rocket plume modeling, with a career spanning over 58 years. He contributed to major aerospace programs from the Apollo-era Saturn rockets through the Space Shuttle and into modern systems like the Space Launch System and Artemis missions. His work focused on predicting how rocket plumes affect vehicles and launch environments, helping design safer rockets, spacecraft, and launch facilities.

Following Bud’s passing in April 2026, his family established this fund to honor his love of space by helping young dreamers attend Space Camp and pursue their passion for science and exploration.

Robert Sarkissian carried a lifelong pride in growing up in New Jersey, a place that shaped his early years and grounded him throughout his life. He held a special affection for Niagara Falls, a place whose power and beauty never stopped inspiring him. In time, he made Atlanta, Georgia his home, embracing its community with an open heart and a generosity that seemed to come as naturally as breathing.

Robert truly never met a stranger. He had a way of making everyone feel welcome, seen, and cared for. Whether offering a helping hand or simply sharing a kind word, he gave of himself freely and without hesitation. His warmth was steady, and his instinct to help others was one of his defining gifts.

From childhood on, Robert dreamed of going to space. His fascination with space travel, astronomy, and anything that could take flight was more than a hobby—it was a source of wonder that stayed with him throughout his life. He loved the idea of possibility, of looking up and imagining what might be beyond the horizon. Nothing would have meant more to him than knowing he inspired a young person to challenge gravity, explore farther than they can see, and dream boldly.

Robert’s life was marked by kindness, curiosity, and a spirit that lifted others. His legacy lives on in the people he touched and in the dreams he encouraged others to chase.

Brian Little, the son of an airplane and helicopter pilot, loved aviation and space flight from a young age. He was a sci-fi enthusiast and thoroughly enjoyed Star Wars and Star Trek movies where, “Space — the final frontier,” was the central theme. As a youngster, he watched aircraft soar above his home near the U.S. Army’s aviation flight training school and studied the stars with the telescope given to him by his grandfather.

In the 7th grade, Brian attended Space Camp, an experience that cemented his interest in flight and desire for a career in the space program. He earned his private pilot’s license at age 17 and went on to become an FAA licensed single-engine and multi-engine commercial pilot. He was also licensed as an unmanned aerial vehicle remote pilot. He graduated from Auburn University with a mechanical engineering degree and went to work at Marshall Space Flight Center supporting the International Space Station. Brian was one of the first flight controllers certified when the Payload Operations Integration Center became operational in February 2001. He later helped design, develop, and test payload experiments in collaboration with Kennedy and Johnson space centers, other NASA centers, and multi-national agencies. After a long and successful career in Huntsville, Brian returned to his hometown in southeast Alabama to further his education and simultaneously train for his helicopter pilot certificate. He was killed in an accident while training on May 30, 2020. This scholarship is established to honor Brian’s life and to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers, “to go where no man has gone before.”

Jack LaFollette graduated from Boone High School in Boone, Iowa in 2013 and enlisted in the U.S. Air Force the same year. Trained as a missile and space systems technician and assigned to Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, he became a member of the 91st Missile Maintenance Squadron. Jack later served as a missile handling team chief, routinely leading a team of airmen in the installation and removal of the Minuteman III’s three-stage, 70,000-lb solid rocket motor.

Jack started an internship at the University of Iowa Operator Performance Lab in 2019. In his time at the OPL, Jack acted as a key member of the OPL flight operations team, helping to support dozens of research sorties involving OPL’s fleet of aircraft including two Aero L-29 trainer jets, two Mi-2 Hoplite helicopters, and numerous unmanned aerial vehicles. In addition to his support of flight operations, Jack helped design and run multiple research studies at the lab, took on a key role in fabrication and maintenance, and was quick to lend a helping hand wherever and whenever it was needed.

Jack died on October 28, 2019 from sudden cardiac death at the age of 24. This scholarship fund was created in honor of Jack’s love for space, space science and exploration, and his belief that nothing is impossible.

As remembered by his mom, Charlotte Kennerly:

Christian developed a love of aviation and the military early in his life. He would often make his own military-style “uniform” out of construction paper and anything else lying around.

When I found out about the U.S. Space and Rocket center’s Aviation Challenge^® program, I knew it would be something Christian would love. I showed the program to him in late 2012, and he immediately wanted to attend that next summer. It changed him. He came home so excited, having made new friends, and learned valuable lessons in cooperation with others. Christian couldn’t wait to go back the next year. He attended the Mach III Elite program the next 3 years, and always coordinated the dates with the friends he had made. In 2016, after several tries, he and his partner won the coveted “Top Gun” challenge. Christian was very proud of this accomplishment, as they had to come from the bottom to win. This just shows the level of teamwork and commitment that Aviation Challenge^® instills in their participants.

The last year he could attend was 2016, and he talked about coming back to be a counselor 2 years later. Sadly, he did not make that last goal, as we lost him to suicide in March 2018. He was 19. We created a scholarship fund in his name, and wish to share the joy of Aviation Challenge^® with others each year. That is why we have set up a memorial scholarship for Aviation Challenge^®.

Tommy Holman had an unusual interest in space from a very early age…some might call it a fixation. From the age of three, he knew what he wanted to do, and by the time he was six, so did all who knew him. Tommy wanted to be an astronaut. Unlike most six year olds, he knew what that meant. He knew the vehicles the early astronauts used to explore the heavens. He knew what an astronaut’s mission was, and he knew that he wanted to be one of them. He was a happy, energetic little boy with an insatiable appetite for all things space. Thomas Andrew Holman passed away on February 1, 2004, the first anniversary of the Columbia tragedy.