鈥極fficially a Space Cowboy:鈥 Make-A-Wish child launches MSU rocket
Contact: Mary Pollitz
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥Six-year-old Christopher Best of Flora loves everything about space. Diagnosed with the congenital condition known as Pierre Robin sequence, his Make-A-Wish request was simple鈥攈e wanted to experience anything and everything to do with rockets.
This fall, that wish came true thanks to Make-A-Wish Mississippi, Richland-based Lyle Machinery and 无尽资源采集鈥檚 nationally recognized Space Cowboys rocketry team. To help bring Best鈥檚 wish to life, MSU mechanical engineering senior Cooper Shanks of Vienna, Illinois, spent more than a week fully refurbishing one of the team鈥檚 Saturn V鈥搒tyle high-power rockets. The Space Cowboys then renamed the rocket the 鈥淐hristopher VI鈥 wrapping it as a surprise gift for Best.
鈥淲e wrapped it up for him, specially made,鈥 Shanks said. 鈥淣ow he鈥檚 officially a Space Cowboy.鈥
Best鈥檚 mother, Emily Catazaro, said the moment was unforgettable.
鈥淲atching those college students pour so much love, effort and excitement into making my child鈥檚 dream come true brought me to tears,鈥 she said. 鈥溾hristopher told me he already felt incredible when he found out the rocket was his鈥攂ut the moment he realized it was real, he said it was the best day of his entire life. Seeing his face light up over rockets is something I will never forget. He hasn鈥檛 stopped talking about launching them, and about how special it feels to have the Space Cowboys by his side鈥攔eady to help him fix it, learn from it and dream even bigger.鈥
Make-A-Wish Mississippi recently hosted a celebration event for Best at Lyle Machinery, where he learned he鈥檒l soon travel to Florida to experience Disney World and tour Kennedy Space Center. To mark the occasion, Best spent the afternoon shooting test rockets with the Space Cowboys. For mechanical engineering sophomore Ruthie Barnett of Biloxi, watching Best run back and forth in pure bliss was easily one of her life鈥檚 highlights.
鈥淏eing a source of pure joy for a kid, especially a kid fighting these kinds of battles, was really awesome,鈥 she said. 鈥淭his showed us how lucky we are and how lucky we were to just be a part of celebrating him and getting his wish granted. If anyone has the opportunity to do this, take it up. This is an experience I don鈥檛 think anything will ever be able to replicate. Christopher is just awesome, very energetic, bright and cool.鈥
The Space Cowboys routinely design, build and launch high-power rockets for competitions across the country. But for the team, Shanks said, outreach moments like this are at the heart of their mission.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 realize how much of an impact this would have on us,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 was crying for like a week afterward. Make-A-Wish has our contact now, so it鈥檚 definitely something we would do again.鈥
For more information about Make-A-Wish Mississippi, visit .
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MSU鈥檚 Bagley College of Engineering is online at听听and can be found on听,听听听and听听at @msuengineering.
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