For generations, Appalachia depended on coal seams, railroad tracks, timber and industries that sustained its mountain communities. Families built lives around mines, rail yards and machine shops. They developed a culture shaped by resilience, hard work and practical problem-solving.
In the early years of the 21st century, a remarkable transformation unfolded. Throughout Southwest Virginia and Central Appalachia, students, educators, business leaders, healthcare providers and aerospace advocates began looking upward. This shift in focus, developing over these early decades, marked not just an interest in space but a growing realization that Appalachian communities could play a meaningful role in the aerospace age. One of the earliest signs of this new direction appeared in astronomy and outdoor education. At Bark Camp Lake, Eagle Scout Daniel Rose established the Bark Camp Lake Dark Sky Park. This gave families a chance to reconnect with the night sky. Scouts earned merit badges in aviation, astronomy, engineering, and rocketry. These activities introduced aerospace concepts to a new generation.
Few people symbolized the connection between old Appalachia and its aerospace future better than Jimmy “O’Dell” Carroll. He was one of the famed Rocket Boys of Coalwood, West Virginia, immortalized in October Sky. Living in neighboring Scott County, Virginia, Carroll regularly encouraged student aerospace activities throughout the region. He often appeared alongside WCYB videographer Jim Conrad, whose reporting carried local STEM stories into homes across Southwest Virginia.
Photographer Tim Cox documented many of the milestones that followed, preserving a visual record of a region steadily embracing innovation.
The region’s commitment to innovation grew stronger in the early 2000s when Wise County students began experimenting with GIS, satellite remote sensing, and digital mapping through the DEVELOP initiative. These projects demonstrated how space-based technologies could help solve real-world problems while exposing Appalachian students to emerging careers.
At the same time, around the early 2000s, commercial spaceflight was beginning to change. When I first encountered Elon Musk and early SpaceX leaders through the National Space Society in 2005, reusable rockets were still viewed skeptically. The idea that Appalachian students might someday participate in the aerospace economy seemed equally unlikely to many observers.
Despite continued skepticism from some observers, the region’s outlook was already shifting. The mountains were already changing.
Students launched rockets, studied aerodynamics and orbital mechanics, and gathered beneath dark skies to explore astronomy. Among the educators helping drive that movement was Jane Carter, a Zero Gravity teacher. Her enthusiasm transformed aerospace from an abstract idea into a hands-on experience. Carter guided students through ThinSat launches, balloon experiments and projects that ultimately reached the International Space Station.
Joining her were Scott County educators Rhonda Kilgore and Dawn Williams, and Wise County teacher David Stallard of Wise.
interface software and became a powerful role model for local students. Joining him were regional public school teachers Jane Carter and
Rhonda Kilgore, who had participated in Zero Gravity flights alongside Robonaut-2. Together, they inspired and were enthusiastically
recognized by the thousands of students in the region. Photo credit Tim C. Cox.
Big Stone Gap native Adams Sanders, a University of Virginia graduate whose work developing human-machine interface software for General Motors made him a powerful role model for local students.
A defining moment arrived when thousands of students gathered at University of Virginia’s College at Wise for a live conversation with astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Melanie Salyer Nelson worked alongside regional education and community leaders. She played a central role in organizing the event and coordinating the partnerships that brought the downlink to Southwest Virginia. The program connected Appalachian classrooms directly to orbit. It demonstrated that students in the mountains could access the same scientific opportunities as those anywhere in the world.
About 4,000 students attended alongside former NASA astronaut and NFL player Leland Melvin and commercial astronaut Anousheh Ansari. Students viewed an Apollo 14 moon rock and NASA’s Robonaut, making space exploration feel tangible and real.
When technical difficulties disrupted communications, Kathy Still famously joked, “Houston has a problem.” Eventually, Donald Purdie restored the connection, allowing Appalachian students to speak directly with astronauts orbiting Earth. The event’s success reflected years of planning by Nelson and her partners and remains one of the most memorable STEM experiences ever offered in the region.
Soon, the movement expanded beyond classrooms.
Scouts were committed to the indoor drone course competition that had been created earing them metals and merit badges. Photo credit Tim
C. Cox.
participants, including Wise County supervisor Steven Bates. Photo credit Tim C. Cox.
Former Scoutmaster Teddy Huff organized youth drone competitions at UVA Wise. These taught engineering, teamwork and flight operations. Later, the Virginia-Kentucky District Fair hosted a sanctioned drone demolition derby that attracted participants, including Wise County supervisor Steven Bates.
What appeared to some as mere novelties were, in reality, preparations. Students were gaining skills for the technologies that would soon influence transportation, communications and healthcare.
and bipartisan participation of regional state legislators who were drafting new space and drone law in Virginia during this period of time.
Pictured with Jackson are former State Senator Phillip Puckett and DEVELOP leader and nationally certified rocketeer Giovanni Colberg. Photo
credit: Tim C. Cox.
That growing expertise became visible during Aerospace Days at Lonesome Pine Airport. The event brought together students, engineers, pilots, commercial drone companies, amateur rocketeers, Liberty University and Virginia Tech participants, Scouts and families interested in emerging technologies.
The gathering repeatedly attracted then-Virginia Secretary of Technology Karen Jackson, along with policymakers helping shape Virginia’s evolving aerospace and drone regulations. Among them were former State Senator Phillip Puckett and DEVELOP leader and nationally certified rocketeer Giovanni Colberg.
More than one hundred Scouts camped beneath the stars while local Masons, led by Greg Cross, added Appalachian hospitality to an event centered on aerospace exploration.
Aerospace Days also launched the “Let’s Fly Wisely” initiative to promote aviation safety and responsible drone operations. That effort helped pave the way for a historic milestone.
In July 2015, national and international media converged on Wise County for what many described as aviation’s “Kitty Hawk Moment” for drones. Thousands gathered alongside NASA Langley researchers, Health Wagon physicians, aerospace engineers, aviation officials and state leaders.
The event culminated in what became the first FAA-approved drone-assisted medical delivery in the United States.
As medicine moved toward a Remote Area Medical clinic serving rural patients, Governor Terry McAuliffe helped spotlight the demonstration’s importance. The mission showed how drones, satellite navigation and rural healthcare could work together. They helped overcome geographic barriers.
For students watching nearby, it proved that innovation could happen in Appalachia.
Airport manager and aviator Jarrod Powers helped oversee operational safety during the pioneering flights. Today, the drone used in that historic mission is on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
As a result of these successes, the region’s connection to space continued to deepen.
Hundreds of Appalachian students participated in building and launching ThinSats and other educational satellites into low Earth orbit. In 2019, many traveled to Wallops Island to watch their projects launch aboard the Antares NG-11 mission.
A key figure in those efforts was satellite pioneer Professor Robert “Bob” Twiggs of Stanford University and Morehead State University. Twiggs repeatedly visited Wise County, teaching educators and students about small satellites and helping inspire a generation of future engineers.
U.S. Senator Mark Warner visited the region to meet students participating in satellite development and celebrate their accomplishments. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing new challenges and further opportunities for innovation.
As remote learning during the pandemic exposed the limitations of rural broadband, another solution was taking shape overhead. Through early SpaceX Starlink testing in the early 2020s, communities long challenged by geography gained access to high-speed internet delivered directly from orbit.
Among the earliest adopters was Coeburn resident Billy Markham, who became one of the first people in the region to gain access to Starlink service. What began with early users quickly expanded into broader access. This brought education, telemedicine, business opportunities and communications throughout western Virginia.
One of the strongest advocates for applying satellite connectivity to community needs was Don Green, executive director of the Napoleon Hill Foundation. Alongside author Don Caudill, Green helped fund Health Wagon’s first mobile Starlink connection. He believed satellite broadband could transform rural healthcare.
Green’s vision extended beyond technology. His effort to place a NanoFiche copy of Think and Grow Rich aboard the SpaceX-launched Astrobotic Griffin-01 lunar mission reflected his belief. Appalachian youth should never allow geography to limit their ambitions.
That philosophy was reinforced when Green hosted commercial astronaut Anousheh Ansari in Wise. Ansari shared her journey from Tehran to Virginia, from entrepreneur to space traveler, inspiring students and strengthening Green’s commitment to investing in the region’s future.
helped to lead cutting-edge technologies in healthcare from drones to Starlink to AI and next workforce development in telehealth and
telemedicine. Credit: Health Wagon.
Health Wagon continued embracing innovation as well. Dr. Paula Hill-Collins discussed Appalachian healthcare technologies at the International Space Development Conference. Dov Hoch, executive director of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board, helped connect Health Wagon leaders with Israeli telemedicine innovators. Hoch also assisted in connecting Dr. Teresa Tyson and Dr. Paula Hill-Collins with TytoCare. This expanded telemedicine opportunities throughout the region.
Meanwhile, Buchanan County expanded Starlink-supported emergency services, while Mountain Empire Older Citizens adopted advanced communication technologies to support eldercare.
These developments demonstrated a simple, important truth. Technologies once associated with space exploration had become practical tools, improving daily life across Appalachia.
Signals that once traveled by telegraph now move through satellites above the same mountains. Aerospace technologies support healthcare, education, communications, emergency management and economic development throughout the region.
Several years ago, my friend and longtime journalist Dwayne Yancey jokingly suggested that my final resting place might someday be somewhere beyond Earth. At the time, the idea sounded absurd.
Today, with commercial spaceflight expanding and lunar missions becoming a reality, it seems less far-fetched.
Perhaps that observation captures the larger lesson of Appalachia’s journey into the space age.
The future rarely arrives all at once.
It begins when someone teaches a child to look upward.
Then the world changes.
Jack Kennedy is a former Wise County clerk of court whose work has intersected many of the aerospace, education, and technology initiatives described in this story. Today, he serves as a United States Space Force Delta 45 public affairs military and media escort and as an educator-guide at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum while continuing to advocate for Appalachia’s growing role in the space age. His name is also etched on the Wall of Honor at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.
Tim Cox is an award-winning photojournalist from Wise.
