Growing up in the Cabbage Patch, Bea dreamed of adventure and exploring the big wide world. She was adopted and moved to Northern Virginia, close to Washington, D.C. She was delighted to have a family that was interested in the same things she was: flying in airplanes, traveling around the world, studying astronomy, and watching Cosmos and Star Trek on television. She took a trip to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum to see the space displays and touch a piece of moon rock. She sat outside with the family, gazing at stars and planets through a telescope. Listening to stories of rockets and satellites and space travel, Bea became more determined than ever to explore the country, the planet, and the universe!
Bea heard about Christopher Xavier's trip into space aboard the U.S. Space Shuttle in 1985. She was determined to join the Young Astronaut Program (YAP) as soon as she graduated from college. She studied hard, got her degree, and eagerly sent in her application for the YAP. She was so happy to be accepted.
When it was time to leave for YAP training camp, Bea hugged her Mom and siblings good-bye and eagerly boarded a bus heading to Cleveland, Georgia. After six months of intense training, Bea successfully completed her time at YAP and impatiently waited for her space flight to be scheduled. It finally happened, and her whole family traveled to Cape Canaveral to watch in awe as Bea and her crewmates blasted into space. It was a night launch and the glow of the engines was visible from the viewing platform several miles away.
Bea spent 10 days in space, completing 3 space walks and then walking on the Moon. She learned that walking on the Moon is very different from the moonwalk, something she never could master (despite watching Michael Jackson videos on repeat for several hours straight.) When Bea returned to Earth, her entire family was waiting to welcome her back with open arms. They were so proud of her!
To show her appreciation for the amazing opportunity she had to go into orbit and walk on the Moon, Bea decided to hide a geocache for her Mama's friends to find on Earth. Since she couldn't think of a suitable space-related location near her home, she looked further afield. She considered hiding her cache in Mars or Moon Township in Pennsylvania, but that didn't seem right to her. She finally opted for Morgantown, West Virginia, because she discovered her Mama's caching friends were planning a cosmic caching event in Star City and she wanted to participate. She made sure her cache was accessible to all cachers and cabbages who want to find it.