From the Alvin and Rosalie Sara Check studio, PBS Kansas Presents Positively Kansas, It's Time for Positively Kansas.

Coming up Wichita State reaches for the stars.

We celebrate a decade long dream realized as the university's very first satellite blast into orbit aboard a space X rocket.

Also, the healing power of art.

Meet a beloved new doctor whose creative passion behind the lens is bringing bright smiles to his patients and staff.

Plus, hopping into hearts, we visit a Kansas couple using gentle giant therapy bunnies to bring comfort and joy to cozy corners across the state.

I'm Cierra Scott, those stories and our Kansas Wild Edge reporter cued up and ready to roll in this edition of Positively Kansas.

And.

For a team of Wichita State students and professors, a decade long dream is now orbiting Earth University's first satellite.

A small CubeSat named snappy recently launched into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon nine rocket.

Chris Frank shows us how years of research, engineering and teamwork finally lifted off.

321 mission and liftoff of Falcon nine.

This SpaceX Falcon nine rocket liftoff from Vandenberg, California, carries something built much closer to home.

Special coverage for a team of students and professors at Wichita State University.

This was the moment a decade long dream finally left the ground at T plus, a small satellite known as a CubeSat built in Wichita is now in space for that satellite named snappy, that marks the first spacecraft ever put into orbit by WSU.

Boy, was it exciting to see it launch.

There was a cheer when we I mean, we've seen lots of Falcon nine launches before, but when it has your cubes, act on it.

It's a fantastic, fun thing to watch because it's your CubeSat.

This is a clean tent before snap ever reach space.

It spent months inside this clean tent at Wichita State University.

The CubeSat generating so much excitement is actually small enough to hold in your hands.

As WSU physics professor Holger Meier demonstrates.

This is actually full size.

It's about the size of a loaf of bread, but quite heavy with the technology packed inside.

When we first visited the project last year, students and professors were still carefully preparing the satellite for launch.

They only worked on it in a clean room to protect the CubeSat from the tiniest speck of dust.

Now, fast forward to the early morning hours of May 3rd, 2026.

Now we're about to deploy these 11 payloads, plus eight more in just a few moments.

The WSU CubeSat is one of 45 payloads to be launched.

Yeah, absolutely spectacular views here of our payload stacks on top of the second stage.

The second stage is currently flying over Eastern Europe back on campus.

The anticipation builds amongst those who have put years into this work.

There is always a little bit of nervousness.

There, but also very excited and hopeful about it.

We will also be deploying Snappy, an acronym for Solar Neutrino and Astro Particle Physics, which is a NASA innovative advanced concept funded project of Wichita State University.

Listen as Space-x Mission Control confirms the launching of the payloads, Bro 21 deploy confirmed not all of the deployments were in view of the camera, but WSI, whose snappy CubeSat was in the right launch tube for viewing on the right.

First we hear Mission Control's announcement, then see the launch, followed by jubilation erupting back on campus.

Happy deploy confirmed.

They say snappy to play there.

Yeah, there.

That was real time.

Now in slow motion.

A better look at ESA's CubeSat deploying into space and when ours was deployed was right in front of the camera.

Really took a shine to it.

So it did, it did a great job showing off as it launched, the tube.

Everyone was so excited and you could feel just how, like everything came together.

And so it's, you know, it's like raising a child.

It's, and, and, you know, and and then we had the launch that's like, seeing your child graduate from high school and going off to college.

So it it's just a it's been a nice moment, but this really is our satellite.

Wichita native Brian Doty is a doctoral student at WSU in applied mathematics.

He is currently the operations manager of the satellite.

Now, he was concerned snappy might not even get out of the tube because it was a very heavy satellite for its size.

Uniquely heavy actually.

The mission hopes to test new ways of studying and measuring solar neutrinos close to the sun.

Solar neutrinos are tiny particles created by the sun during the same nuclear reactions that give us sunlight and heat.

Solar neutrinos travel through space and even our bodies without us even noticing.

Scientists study them because they can provide clues about what's happening deep inside the sun.

Now that snap is in orbit, the work on campus is to monitor the CubeSats communications.

But this really is our satellite.

And as it goes over the north and south poles, it'll turn on for 15 minutes total out of its 90 minute orbit, where we take data.

Doctor Solomon says it took the input of many WSU departments to get snappy launched.

So far, there's been 36 students from all different branches of the university, having had participated so far on this project for the students and professors who spent years building snappy.

The launch marked more than a science milestone.

It was proof that a project built in Wichita, that thing flew out.

Yeah.

Couldn't make it all the way to space.

This is Chris Frank for Positively Kansas.

The Wichita State scientists hope this mission will lead to the launching of a much larger spacecraft, perhaps designed and built here in Wichita.

For many years, Doctor Kent Bradley has been a familiar face to countless patients in Newton.

His easygoing manner helps put them at ease.

But as Anthony Powell shows us, it's also Doctor Bradley's photography work that brings a smile to his patients and staff.

You might say practicing medicine is in Kent Bradley's blood.

We have the lab results back.

His father, uncle and two brothers were all veterinarians.

I was always interested in medicine, but I did not want to be a veterinarian.

And so I knew I was going to do the human side of medicine.

Since the late 90s, Bradley has headed associates and Women's Health.

He takes particular pride in making the practice of family atmosphere for patients and staff.

The patient interactions is what I like the most helping patients, getting them to feeling better or delivering the babies and the pregnancy or helping them out with surgery.

From the beginning, I always felt like that I was part of a team and that I always had a voice.

Like, if there were things that we wanted to change or do differently, that I always it was important.

And he listened well.

Yeah.

Several years ago, the staff felt the clinic artwork needed to change.

Instead of bland paintings, they wanted Doctor Bradley to display his photography.

It's a talent and interest he began cultivating growing up in Lawrence.

We had an excellent school system in Lawrence, and I had a great school photography class that made me really interested, and then I took it as a forage project a couple of years and enjoyed it.

But it's always just been a hobby.

Well, we're just sauce and all the stuff that he takes.

I like all of his pictures, like, how do you figure this out?

Like, how do you take a picture?

I end up with a pride.

Bradley's staff convinced him that his pictures would be a big hit hanging on the walls.

At first, the humble doctor was a bit hesitant.

I didn't think anybody would want to see him, so I just tried 1 or 2 rooms and that went over well.

So now all of our rooms and labor and delivery has photos that I've taken.

Patients tell Doctor Bradley and his staff that the pictures helped them relax and think about something else besides medical issues.

That's a cool picture.

You took that really?

Really.

And so?

So that they see me at the hospital all the time.

So they're amazed that I have hobbies.

His photography has taken Doctor Bradley to 30 countries and 49 states.

Back in 2024, he went on a trip with National Geographic and flew in one of its planes.

It was 25 days and 12 countries and 25 time zones by the time I got back to Kansas, and it was an amazing trip.

It's on their own plane, and pretty much you fly in some place, and then the next day you do whatever you want to do.

So Taj Mahal was one day with flying the night before and and see it the next day, and the next day would fly on to the next place.

Bradley's international travels include a 2026 trip to Portugal and Spain in 2027.

New Zealand is the destination, but the doctor also greatly enjoys shooting in Kansas and other states.

Clouds in Kansas are are phenomenal and and make great pictures and and then I, I like history and I like the open plains of the Flint Hills and I like old dilapidated buildings and and limestone.

And he never misses a chance to snap a sunflower.

As for his technique, Doctor Bradley keeps it simple.

I enjoy, composing the picture and and catching something in a little different view than you might see it any other way.

This picture is a prime example of that, and is a favorite of the doctor and his staff.

He captured the emotions so well in that picture you can tell that little is trying to decide am I going to get in there or I'm not going to get in there?

So whether he is busy caring for patients medically or taking them and his staff to another place through his pictures.

Doctor Kent Bradley is a very unique combination.

A doctor whose passion for medicine is equaled by his passion for photography in Newton.

I'm Anthony Powell for Positively Kansas.

In the near future, Doctor Bradley plans on lightning, his medical workload a bit that will give him more chance to travel and of course, take pictures of his adventures.

A Kansas couple is bringing comfort to generations, from children to seniors with their giant rabbits.

Chris Ryan shows us how these floppy eared therapy bunnies are hopping into the hearts across the state.

Do you want to see the bunny?

Oh, you think about that.

Beautiful, sweet.

This is radar.

Can I see them in your basket on your bed?

At Wesley Medical Center, two and a half year old Hensley Binger was all smiles when a rabbit named Radar Smiley hopped into her hospital room.

I hope you like it.

If he does.

Like, you know, a hospital room can be a hard place to be.

No matter what your age.

So an unexpected visit from a large rabbit brought a little lightness to the bedside.

In a room with these big ears.

Yeah.

Hi.

Radar is a Flemish giant, a breed known for being calm, patient and gentle.

Despite its size.

Yeah, we have the bunnies today.

And for Nancy and Clint Bradfield, those qualities make these rabbits something more than pets.

They're comfort for the Brad Fildes.

These visits started with one rabbit named Rosie.

When I met Clint, we had two small rabbits that were my daughter's that I inherited when she went off to college.

And so when we decided to get married, he said, if we're going to have rabbits, can we have manly rabbits?

And I said, what exactly is a manly rabbit?

They found Rosie, a Flemish giant, in 2019.

Soon after, they formed the nonprofit, Earned Therapy Certification and then began taking their rabbit to places where comfort was needed most.

One of their first stops, the Robert J. Doe VA medical center.

But just the emotional connection that they started with when we took the bunnies into the VA, was seeing those gentlemen and ladies that have been through situations that not everybody else has been through.

And to start immediately building a connection with that rabbit, most of them will start moving their nose to try to see if they can wiggle their nose like the rabbit did.

Clint could relate.

He spent 27 years in the Kansas Air National Guard, including a deployment to Afghanistan as a medic.

He had seen trauma firsthand.

After retiring, he wondered a new way to serve these giant rabbits became that way.

Yeah.

In the beginning, we started doing mainly, home care or hospice.

We do Wesley Children's Hospital every other week.

Can you move your nose like that?

Yeah, I did.

I try, but I don't do very good.

Hi, ladies.

How are you doing today?

We got the bunnies to see you.

Have you seen our rabbits before?

This is a memory care home that Brad Fields visited with the rabbits.

You can just almost see the calm come to some of those people.

And.

And we hear quite frequently from the nurses.

At some of those homes that that lady hasn't interacted with us for weeks.

And to see her smile and speak, is is an accomplishment.

So to be able to provide that for someone is is pretty cool.

This breed, the Flemish Giant breed, is known to be really lazy and laid back.

So they make good emotional support animals.

Oh, look, he's got his ear.

Yeah, he's listening, isn't she?

Yeah.

What works here to comfort seniors also works in schools.

We have gone to schools.

We've used them.

We've had schools come to us sometimes and say, hey, we'd like to see a visit from the rabbit.

And because these rabbits are specifically crime, they're they're good for for therapy and things.

They're very docile.

And so in those situations it helps keep the whole environment a little bit calmer.

The bunnies don't get all of the attention.

The Brad Fields also train Nigerian dwarf goats, another unexpected kind of companion animal.

Now they're a year old and we've incorporated them and started the training program and the certification program.

We're we're taking them into facilities and out on events to to let people interact with them.

We've got some.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

The goats may be playful, but they can't sit quietly on your lap.

I think what the goats do is they they just take you out of that realm of your head space, being busy all the time to all of a sudden focusing on the the reactions of the goats and how the goats react out there because they're just so much fun to watch.

Goats bring laughter.

Rabbits bring stillness, and together they bring relief.

So what's next?

So the next step.

I don't know.

We have the funny farm as it is at their small farm.

The rabbits live in a building they call the Bunny barracks.

Rosie may be gone, but her descendants and even a few goats continue the mission, bringing calm to hospital rooms, smiles to nursing homes, and a little peace where it's needed most.

This is Chris Frank for Positively Kansas.

Rosie takes donations and has an annual fundraiser to help pay the costs of caring for the bunnies and goats.

Now to the often surprising world of Kansas wildlife.

Consider the praying mantis its common insect.

This predator hides in vegetation and eats all kinds of bugs and spiders.

It's harmless to humans and is one of the few insects actually sometimes kept as pets.

As Mike Fletcher shows us in this week's Kansas Wild Edge.

Now, I'm not saying you'd want to keep a bug for a pet, but they're not cute and cuddly.

Some of them sting or bite, and some are plain ugly, and they really don't communicate with you.

And it's often a hassle to provide their needs.

Now.

But if you wanted to give it a try, a praying mantis might be your best bet.

These insects, while not necessarily friendly, seem to have a curiosity about humans, and though they look strange, they kind of grow on you.

Maybe it's their eyes.

Praying mantises have prominent pseudo pupils in their compound eyes, making it easy to tell where they're looking.

Most insect eyes are comprised of larger facets that seem to look everywhere at once, so it's confusing.

But praying mantises will look you right in the eye.

A praying mantis can see clearly for about 60ft, making it a Hawkeye in the insect world, and it can turn its head almost 180 degrees to survey its surroundings.

If some hapless small critter is nearby, it's suddenly on the menu because Praying Mantis says he just about anything they can grasp.

They have strange front legs termed reportorial, barbed and elongated, and suited for holding prey securely.

They tend to fold these in a strike position, and this prayer like pose gives them their names and they might look slow and sleepy while waiting motionless on the plant.

But their fast is like me.

When prey ventures near, they strike like a snake.

In fact, they're so fast they can catch flies out of the air.

Wow.

Praying mantises are usually green or gray, and they blend into their surroundings.

It's easy to miss them as they wait in foliage.

They're patient hunters and can go for days without a meal.

They have no problem with aspect, sometimes hanging for hours upside down, sometimes right side up.

They get their water from dew and from the creatures they eat.

The mantises naturally move to where prey congregate.

Flowers are especially attractive since all kinds of small creatures eat sweet nectar.

I usually keep some watermelon rinds in summer to attract insects, and mantises love to sit on them and eat flies nonstop.

I've watched a single mantis eat 15 flies with no signs of slowing down.

Oh, how they can eat that much.

And sometimes prey items nearly as large as they are in one meal is amazing.

They're like chipping machines, swallowing bite after bite without chewing.

His insect parts disappear in order for prey that don't fight back.

Mantises start anywhere and eat both directions for stinging prey.

Those that bite or which might get away.

They first eat the head to quiet their victim.

I've placed captive mantises into good feeding situations and had them suddenly stop and turn to look at me as if saying, how about that?

It's almost like a dog nodding appreciation during its meal.

Nah, couldn't be.

For their fierce and nonstop feeding.

Madison's are gentle when handled.

They readily climb onto your finger and they neither bite nor scratch.

I catch all that I find, placing them in my garden as natural pest controls.

But when mature mantises mate, males do well to hit the road promptly.

Since a bigger female may eat them when finished, her abdomen swells in preparation for laying eggs.

She lays several hundred in a protein foam mask called a no or thicker.

This hardens and protects the eggs.

A female may produce five or more egg masses during her life.

Those laid late in fall over winter is eggs.

They hatch in the spring is tiny nymphs that resemble adults.

Periodically, nymphs shed their skin and grow larger than adults or more than three inches long.

Don't be afraid of a praying mantis.

They're a great way to help youngsters learn about the outdoors.

I'm Mike Blair for Positively Kansas.

That's a wrap for this week.

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And if you'd like to see more positive and inspirational stories like these, you can also watch me on fierce, feisty and 50 plus.

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Isaiah Scott.

See you next time.