An Eagle Scout in California has reminded all of us about the cost of space travel. As reported by
Parabolic Arc, X-15 rocket plane pilot Maj. Michael J. Adams died in a crash back in 1967 while learning more about suborbital landings that would eventually be very useful for the space shuttle flights. In June 2004, Eagle Scout John Bodylski from Troop No. 323 in Tustin led a scout team to devise a desert memorial in the Mojave Desert near the X-15 crash site. The article notes that Maj. Adams was posthumously awarded Astronaut Wings for his
final flight and his name was added to the
Astronaut Memorial at
the John F. Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center in Florida in 1991. A fitting tribute in both locations as we remember the cost of breaking the bonds of Earth.
