Sat, May 19, 2007
Rocket Recovered Three Weeks After Launch
Nearly three weeks after the launch of UP Aerospace's SpaceLoft
XL rocket -- carrying the ashes of "Star Trek" actor James "Scotty"
Doohan (shown below), astronaut Gordon Cooper, and 200 others -- on
Friday search crews located the missing rocket in the mountains of
south-central New Mexico.
UP Aerospace co-founder Eric Knight told The Associated Press
the rocket and its payload "landed where we wanted it to be. It was
just in difficult terrain."
"And some days, the weather was not cooperative," he added. New
Mexico has been experiencing a rare "early monsoon" this spring,
with heavy late-afternoon rains showers and thunderstorms.
Friday's recovery of the rocket and its cargo wrapped up the
first successful space launch from Spaceport America, located east
of the town of Truth or Consequences. As Aero-News reported, the
rocket's four-minute flight on April 29 went off without a hitch...
right until the moment the rocket returned to Earth.
Thanks to telemetry provided by nearby White Sands Missile
Range, crews had a good idea where the rocket had landed... but
that area included the rocky terrain of the east side of the San
Andres mountain range.
Despite spending three weeks exposed to the elements, the
rocket and the sealed metal capsules containing the ashes are said
to be in good condition. Those cylinders will be mounted on
plaques, and given to family members of those whose remains flew
into suborbital space.
Wende Doohan, James Doohan's widow, said her husband "was in
great company with Gordon and (former "Star Trek" writer) Meredith
Lucas."
"He probably wished he could have stayed" in space, Doohan told
the AP.
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