Aerospace Education Council: May 2026
May 27, 2026 | By Gary Copsey
Pitsenbarger Full Measure Award
We now have 12 applications for the new Pitsenbarger Full Measure Award. As a reminder, this is as $3,000 grant that will be presented at opening ceremonies at the 2026 Air, Space and Cyber conference in National Harbor. And we will pay for their way there!
I was able to attend the 60th Anniversary of William Pitsenbarger’s death in Vietnam on April 10-11 April in Piqua, Ohio, where he is interred. AFA’s Chair, Kathleen Ferguson, attended to deliver some excellent remarks at the event. A fairly large number of Pararescuemen (PJs) were there as well as five of the “Mud Soldiers” whose lives Pitsenbarger saved 60 years ago. Of special note, Chief Master Sgt. Dave Milsten, USAF (Ret.), who was played in the “Last Full Measure” movie by William Hurt, also attended. Milsten was stationed with Pitsenbarger in Vietnam and was on the second helicopter that went into assist Charlie Company who was pinned down during Operation Abilene. Kudos to the Wright Memorial Chapter in Dayton for hosting this great event!
Teacher of the Year (TOY)
National TOY applications are due June 30. We’ve received several chapters and state TOY packages, so thank you for engaging. A new requirement has been levied by the CFO that before they will issue checks, they need an IRS W-9. I’ve heard concerns about sending this information via open email, so please contact Joe Peel on the staff who can set you up with a secure way to submit those if there is concern.
CyberPatriot & StellarXplorers
I had the opportunity to attend the 2026 CyberPatriot National Finals Competition in Bethesda, Md. It was my first one, and it was quite impressive to watch these young Americans compete.
I also was privileged to attend the 2026 StellarXplorers National Finals in Denver. I was quite impressed, as with CyberPatriot, about how impressive these folks were! But I was also disappointed to hear that we only had around 375 teams nationally. We need help from chapters to get the word out about this competition. This would be a great program to complement schools with rocketry programs: They get to learn not just how to build and fly rockets, but about payloads, delivery systems, budgets, orbits, and more.
Arnold Air Society and Silver Wings National Conclave
This year’s conclave was held in Dallas, Texas: Wild West Con! Next year it will be held in Washington DC over Easter.
Regards,
Gary Copsey
Vice Chair – Education