The sky of Francis Gary Powers called through the generations

On May 1, 1960, the skies above Southwest Virginia became a silent witness to a pivotal moment in the Cold War when Francis Gary Powers, piloting a CIA-sponsored U-2 spy plane, was shot down by a Soviet missile. This incident not only ended the era of U-2 reconnaissance flights over the USSR but also heralded the advent of the CIA’s CORONA spy satellites, dubbed “Keyhole,” which marked a significant leap in military intelligence and national security.

The residents of Southwest Virginia, particularly those from the Silent Generation (born between 1928 and 1945) and Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), were uniquely drawn to Powers’ trial and eventual return from a Soviet prison, given the local connections to his family in Pound and Norton. These generations, who experienced the Cold War and its aftermath, were particularly affected by Powers’ story. While the broader implications of this incident may have faded from the collective memory of the region’s mountain communities, a different yet equally compelling narrative was taking shape over the hills in Coalwood, West Virginia.

In Coalwood, a group of young men known as “The Rocket Boys” were ignited by the space launches of the late 1950s. These six boys — Homer Hickam Jr., Quentin Wilson, Jimmy O’Dell Carroll, Roy Lee Cooke, Billy Rose and Sherman Siers, all Big Creek High School students — were profoundly influenced by early rocket science. Hickam, in particular, earned scholarships, attended Virginia Tech and eventually worked for NASA, where he trained space shuttle astronauts during the program’s peak.

While few achieve the renown of Francis Gary Powers or Homer Hickam, the central Appalachian Mountains continue to make significant contributions in fields like software programming for Robonauts, mapping Dark Skies, using NASA’s Landsat satellites for community problem-solving and flying drones to tackle earthly challenges. These modern pioneers, emerging as professionals in the 21st century, are building on the legacy of figures like Powers and Hickam, ensuring a sense of continuity and progress in the region’s contributions to science and technology.

The seeds of interest in space and technology were sown by the exploits of Powers, the Rocket Boys, and iconic astronauts like Alan Shepard, John Glenn and Neil Armstrong. Their stories continue to inspire and motivate the youth of the region, sparking realistic discussions about connecting cellular phones in every hill and holler via Starlink satellites and utilizing drone flights aided by Starlink to deliver medications to the elderly and disabled.

Over the past two decades, students from the central Appalachian Mountains have delved into earth and space sciences, creating county Geographic Information Systems, utilizing remote sensing satellites, building amateur rockets, and examining moon rocks from Apollo 14. Under the guidance of retired science teacher Jane Carter, they have conducted science experiments at the International Space Station and launched ThinSats, which are small, low-cost satellites designed for educational purposes, to low Earth orbit from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought significant challenges, including school lockdowns and lost educational opportunities to the region and other locations around the planet. However, a new opportunity emerged in late 2020 with Elon Musk’s Starlink. Starlink is a satellite internet constellation being constructed by SpaceX to provide broadband satellite Internet access. Wise County Public Schools became the first in the world to launch an educational project using Starlink, connecting over a thousand homes in the central Appalachian Mountains to satellite broadband, benefiting students, the disabled and the elderly in about 65 years.

This connection to the skies above traced back to Francis Gary Powers, has inspired a continued interest in aerospace technology among local youth. Today, there are realistic discussions about connecting cellular phones in every hill and holler via Starlink satellites and utilizing drone flights aided by Starlink to deliver medications to the elderly and disabled. Some youth have a much more significant opportunity to soon orbit the Earth or walk on the moon in the 2030s than ever before riding a SpaceX Starship.

The legacy of Francis Gary Powers and the burgeoning use of aerospace technologies in his home region will be highlighted by his son, Francis Gary Powers Jr., at the Sands Space History Center at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sept. 9. This event will underscore the profound impact of Powers’ legacy on his home region and its ongoing contributions to science, engineering, business, law and the arts.

Jack Kennedy, a former state legislator, former Wise County clerk of circuit court and former member of both the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority and the Virginia Aviation Board, now works as a docent at the U.S. Space Force Museum on Cape Canaveral Station.

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