The ashes
of Star Trek's Scotty and one of NASA's first astronauts are once more
bound for the final frontier, this time aboard a privately-built rocket to launch
from New Mexico this month.
Portions of
the cremated
remains of actor James Doohan, the plucky engineer of television's Starship
Enterprise, and Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper are set for an April 28 launch
aboard a SpaceLoft
XL rocket built by the private firm UP Aerospace.
The space
shot - dubbed SL-2 - will lift off
from Spaceport America, a state-funded launch site near Upham, New Mexico and
about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of the city of Las Cruces.
The remains
of Doohan, Cooper and more than 200 people from over 10 different countries will
ride the UP Aerospace rocket as part of the Legacy of Flight memorial, a spaceflight
arranged for the Houston-based firm Celestis, Inc. A public memorial honoring
those whose remains will launch spaceward is set for April 27 at the New Mexico
Space History Museum in Alamagordo.
"Space
remains the domain of the few, the dream of the many," Celestis CEO Charles
Chafer said in a statement. "With Celestis, the dream of spaceflight and the
desire to take part in the opening of the space frontier can be realized - and
is available to everyone."
The planned
April 28 liftoff will mark the second SpaceLoft
XL flight for UP Aerospace, which first launched the 20-foot (six-meter) booster
on Sept. 25 though it failed to
reach space. Since then, a series of modifications and design changes have
been instituted to improve the rocket, UP Aerospace officials have said.
The suborbital
rocket is designed to haul 110-pound (50-kilogram) payloads to altitudes of
up to 140 miles (225 kilometers).
Celestis
officials said that, in addition to the cremated remains, the launch will
feature the firm's Earth Rise service to loft capsules and modules designed to
parachute back to Earth for recovery and presentation to family members.
Inspirational
messages hailing Cooper and Doohan will also be launched during the flight
alongside messages from students in Japan and the U.S., star dedications and a
music album composed and performed for Celestis by the Russian band Cyclotimia,
the firm - a subsidiary of Houston's Space Services, Inc. - added.
Celestis
will donate portions of the flight's proceeds to the Frank Redd Scholarship
Fund for aerospace students, New Mexico's Zia Pueblo Scholarship fund and Arizona's
Cowboys for Kids, one of Doohan's favorite charities.
UP
Aerospace officials said the spaceflight will also carry a series of commercial
payloads, as well as experiments from U.S. universities, high schools and elementary
schools.
"Our
long-term commitments with Spaceport America and Celestis are essential
elements that are enabling huge growth of this new emerging commercialization
of space industry," Jerry Larson, president of UP Aerospace, said in a
statement.
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