Scholarship Group: Memorial or Tribute

Throughout his career, Ed Buckbee remained a passionate advocate for space exploration and education. He worked closely with the original Mercury astronauts, helped develop the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, and played a key role in commemorating major milestones in space history. He received numerous honors, including NASA’s Distinguished Public Service Medal and the Department of the Army Distinguished Civilian Service Award. Even after his retirement in 1994, Buckbee continued to inspire others through speaking engagements, media appearances, educational programs, and as an author/editor — always encouraging young people to pursue careers in science, technology, and exploration.

Gifts can be made to the Edward Buckbee Memorial Scholarship.

This fitting tribute prepares future engineers, scientists and astronauts, and carries on Buckbee’s tradition of excellence and achievement.

Fred was founder, owner and chief executive of an international, all-volunteer, 700+ member Google Lunar XPrize team, Team FREDNET, The Open Space Society, Inc. Beginning in 2009, he and his team worked to develop open source technology toward sending a robot to the moon. Fred’s heart was in this work and in the friendships he struck and nurtured across the world.

Though his heart was strong, in December 2016 at age 54, Fred succumbed to carcinoid cancer.

While teacher, physicist, computer geek, southern boy, inventor, cyber security expert, musical composer and performer identify Fred, the words neither fully describe nor capture his spirit like the words of a close colleague. “He was an amazing man. It is extremely rare that a person is both brilliant, yet humble. Optimistic, yet realistic. Creative, yet practical. Quiet, yet bold. Appreciative, yet demanding our best. Gentlemanly, yet powerful. No job was too big for him, yet none too small. No one intimidated him, yet he did not want to intimidate anyone.”

Fred earned undergraduate and advanced degrees from Tulane University.

Glen Beatty embarked on his engineering career in 1985, following his graduation with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Arkansas. Later, he earned a Master of Business Administration from the Florida Institute of Technology. Glen dedicated over 31 years of his professional life to the Aerospace Industry, working at McDonnell Douglas and Boeing. During his extensive career, he played pivotal roles in numerous technology initiatives, including Spacelab, SPACEHAB, Ground Based Midcourse Defense, the International Space Station, and the Space Launch System, among many other notable programs.

From a young age, Glen held a profound fascination for the stars and the universe, often found outdoors on clear nights, gazing up at the heavens and enthusiastically identifying constellations to his family. Following Glen’s passing, his family established this fund with the aspiration of inspiring the next generation of stargazers to pursue careers in the field of space exploration.

Chris Bean was a mission control flight engineer for the Space Shuttle program and a design team member for Boeing’s next generation space vehicle. Chris grew up in south Alabama and attained bachelor and masters degrees in aerospace engineering from Auburn University. He enjoyed visiting science classes of young students and loved showing them how they could apply what they learned in class to the exploration of the universe. Chris was also an avid traveler and adventurer; he loved hiking the world’s backcountry to experience the unspoiled beauty of God’s creation that most others never see. Whether climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro or running with the bulls in Pamplona, he lived life to the fullest. His exuberant spirit, selflessness, and love for life have been an inspiration to many. After passing away in June of 2012, his family and friends set up this scholarship in his memory to spread his passions for science, travel, and space exploration to future scientists and engineers.

Mike received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Communications from Clarkson University in 1978 and used his skills to keep WTSC-FM, the college radio station on the air. In 1984 Mike received his Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering and Radar Communications from Syracuse University. As a young boy Mike was fascinated with NASA and space and his rocketry hobby literally launched the career of his dreams. At the 1969 National Boy Scout Jamboree, Mike along with thousands of scouts watched the moon landing. The next summer at age 14, Mike launched an accurate model replica of the Saturn 5 rocket at the 1970 Schenectady Council Scout-In at the Ballston Spa Fairground in upstate New York stunning hundreds of onlookers. Mike’s achievements included receiving the coveted Silver Snoopy NASA award in 1997 in recognition of his project leadership on the International Space Station, an honor given only to 1% of the NASA engineers that ensure flight safety and mission success. He also received many other awards during his aerospace career and currently has a patent pending on techniques for satellite assembly and testing. Mike’s communication systems are on the International Space Station, the Mars Pathfinder, the ViaSat Satellites orbiting above us, and many more. Mike was that rare intelligent yet empathetic human being with a huge sense of humor. He was an honorable man, an Eagle scout, Cub Master, Boy Scout leader, a licensed private pilot, model train collector, and a model rocketeer.His love, laughter, and kindness, will live on in all who knew him, and his passion for science and space exploration will continue to inspire us all. Though gone from our sight, his light remains among the stars.

“Larger than life,” was the ready description of H.M. “Mike” Adams of Milton, West Virginia. A prodigious businessman, he was known for his seven Adams Hallmark stores operating across the state, as well as Adams Printing and Supply which opened in 1964. For family, friends and others in the community, Mike was also known for his kindness and skillful, 18-years of service as recorder for the City of Milton. At the Milton Baptist Church, he served as deacon and was a member of the choir. His love and compassion for others makes this scholarship, which provides camp tuition for a student living in West Virginia, especially meaningful to his family.

Mike Adams passed away in October 2021.

Stella Abel dreamed of becoming an astronaut. In 2018, she attended Space Camp and by appearances, the active, likable teen with slight build and blue hair had a world of opportunities to explore. When she died by suicide, it stunned her family and friends. One very special friend, 16-year-old Kaden Legron, was deeply impacted and moved to action. “I run a mental health and suicide awareness booth in Ohio. My goal is to raise awareness to a cause that is not spoken about enough.” He sometimes reminds visitors to his booth, “Having someone be nice to you can make all the difference.”  Your Space Matters is Kaden’s booth and Facebook.

Kaden, Stella’s family, and the Union County Ohio Community Foundation, deemed a Space Camp scholarship an ideal way to honor and embrace Stella’s memory.