Walpole Man Ready For 'Childhood Dream' With Trip To Space
WALPOLE (CBS) -- To say Richard Laronde of Walpole is adventurous is putting it lightly. He's traveled across the globe from the North Pole to the South Pole.
"One of the most fun things you can do is live your dream," Laronde said.
Now the 63-year-old president of Capron, a lighting and sound company out of Needham, says his biggest adventure is yet to come.
"I will sit behind one of these windows here," Laronde says as he holds up a model version of the Virgin Galactic.
Laronde is describing his upcoming trip into space on board the Virgin Galactic. He's on the wait list now for 2016 and hold ticket number 93.
And while some ticket holders may be re-thinking their outer space journey after a deadly crash during a test flight of a Virgin Galactic spaceship last month, Laronde says he's not deterred one bit.
"We are only on this world for a short time and I think we want to make the most of while we are all here," Laronde said.
Laronde knows this truth all too well.
He and his wife lost their 7-year-old son Stetson to a brain tumor back in 1996.
"I think of him all the time. I have a lock of his hair I take with me where ever I go and I leave a little behind every time," Laronde said.
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