Two groups from Boy Scout Troop 55, chartered to Westside Presbyterian Church, attended programs Oct. 27-28 at the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson. The following boys earned their Aviation merit badge: Andrew Carttar, Patrick Cartter, Jacob Christilles, Newt Heston, Ludwig and Ulrich Johanning, David Lawrence, Jacob Pfeifer, Isaac Remboldt, Isaac Rinke and Joseph Vannicola. They were accompanied by leaders Shawn Heston, John Pfeifer, Deb Vannicola and Grady Walker.

The scouts attended ground school classes and took a flight in a Cessna 172. The Scouts also worked on their weather merit badge. They also watched the movie “Fighter Pilot” in the IMAX theater, as well as spent time in the F-16 flight simulator.

The second group attended a program on Oct. 28 after camping out the night before. These first-year scouts earned their Space Exploration merit badge. They took a tour of the museum, watched an IMAX movie about the national space station, a series of rocket demonstrations, and then launched rockets they assembled themselves. They also discussed the conditions needed to survive in space, and the boys invented their own planets and what sort of spaceship they would need to land on them.

Attending were Jamie Braden, Austin Down, Ian Gent, Griffin Kimmel, Colin O’Neal, Wyatt Patterson, Jonathan Roberts and J.D. Williams. They were accompanied by adult leaders Jill Baringer and Stephen Roberts.