Credit: Par SeanMichealClemes — Travail personnel, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=117737080
United Launch Alliance (ULA) has set May 4 as the date for the maiden launch of its new Vulcan rocket. The flight will launch Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine spacecraft to land on the Moon as well as two other payloads.
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Star Trek First Family Embarks on Final, Infinite Journey on a Rocket Named Vulcan
HOUSTON, January 26, 2022 (Celestis PR) — Celestis, Inc. announced today that it has entered into a launch services agreement with United Launch Alliance (ULA) of Centennial, CO. ULA will host a Celestis Memorial Spaceflight payload aboard the initial flight of ULA’s Vulcan Centaur, planned for later this year. Known as the Enterprise Flight (celestis.com/launch-schedule/enterprise-flight), the Celestis mission will launch more than 150 flight capsules containing cremated remains (ashes), DNA samples, and messages of greetings from clients worldwide on an endless journey in interplanetary space.
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Launch marks debut flight of its next generation OTV, Sherpa-FX
CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla., January 25, 2021 (Spaceflight Inc. PR) — Spaceflight Inc., the global launch services provider, successfully launched and deployed 16 payloads, including 15 from its next-generation orbital transfer vehicle (OTV), Sherpa-FX1, aboard the SpaceX Transporter-1 mission. Dubbed SXRS-3 by Spaceflight, the mission launched January 24 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It delivered Spaceflight’s Sherpa-FX1 to Sun Synchronous Low Earth Orbit (525 km alt), where it deployed payloads for more than 10 organizations.
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General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems Orbital Test Bed successfully launched on board SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy. (Credit: General Atomics)
SAN DIEGO, CA (General Atomics PR) – General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced today that its Orbital Test Bed (OTB) satellite was successfully launched on-board the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral. OTB was then successfully deployed into orbit after launch, and communication was established between the spacecraft and ground operations to begin satellite commissioning and operations.
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy on Tuesday launched the ashes of a former NASA astronaut, a space journalist, a space historian and a professional Japanese baseball player into orbit earlier this week. The Celestis heritage flight, which contained the ashes of 152 people, was a payload aboard General Atomics Orbital Test Bed (OTB) satellite. OTB is expected to orbit the Earth for 25 years. For NASA astronaut William Pogue, the flight marked […]
Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo’s first flight above 50 miles on Dec. 13, 2018. (Credit: Virgin Galactic)
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by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
Throughout the Space Age, suborbital flight has been the least exciting segment of the launch market. Operating in the shadow of their much larger orbital cousins, sounding rockets carrying scientific instruments, microgravity experiments and technology demonstrations have flown to the fringes of space with little fanfare or media attention.
The suborbital sector has become much more dynamic in recent years now that billionaires have started spending money in it. Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic both made significant progress last year in testing New Shepard and SpaceShipTwo, respectively. Their achievements have raised the real possibility of suborbital space tourism flights in 2019. (I know. Promises, promises…. But, this year they might finally really do it. I think.)
HOUSTON, September 9, 2014 (SSHI PR) — Space Services Holdings, Inc. (SSHI) of Houston, Texas, today announced the acquisition of Odyssey Moon Ltd. and the addition of key industry veterans to its Board of Directors, signaling an ambitious expansion in the global commercial space market.
Space Services, already an established space industry leader with its iconic Celestis memorial spaceflights, makes these announcements on the heels of exclusive commercial partnerships with NASA and NOAA for the Sunjammer solar sail mission. The acquisition of Odyssey Moon, an Isle of Man headquartered company, situates Space Services as an emerging global pioneer in commercial lunar missions as well.
HOUSTON (Celestis PR) — Celestis announces the opportunity to honor your special animal companion with a final journey among the stars on board the world’s first pet memorial spaceflight service. Celestis Pets places a symbolic portion of cremated remains into Earth orbit, deep space, and onto the lunar surface. Missions that return the cremated remains to Earth are available as part of our Earth Rise service. Your best friend will […]
It looks like space memorial service Celestis is getting some competition. A new memorial service called Elysium Space is offering to send the ashes of your loved ones into orbit for $1,990 — less than half the $4,995 that Celestis is charging for a similar service. Elysium’s website says that the first memorial flight is set to take off next summer as a secondary payload to a much larger spacecraft. […]
LAS CRUCES, NM (NMSA PR) — The New Mexico Spaceport Authority is excited to host a NASA Flight Opportunities Program launch conducted by UP Aerospace, Inc., at the Spaceport America Vertical Launch Complex on Friday, June 21. This will be the first sub-orbital NASA Flight Opportunities Program launch, and the 19th overall launch from Spaceport America.
The sub-orbital sounding rocket launch is part of the NASA Flight Opportunities Program, which is designed to provide suborbital payload launch opportunities for NASA and other government agencies, as well as for educational institutions and the private sector.
