A Texas firm’s 25th memorial spaceflight saw symbolic samples of cremated remains from aerospace workers, a grocery store employee and dozens of other people launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket Monday afternoon.
The two-stage rocket built by SpaceX blasted off at 2:25 p.m. from Space Launch Complex-4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The first-stage booster landed on a droneship positioned in the Pacific Ocean, marking the 26th successful liftoff and return.
The Transporter-14 mission involved 70 payloads for assorted purposes with deployments starting roughly one hour after liftoff and successfully ending nearly two hours later, according to SpaceX.
The rocket’s cargo included a payload for Celestis Inc. carrying a small sample of human cremains or DNA representing 166 people. Ahead of the launch, the firm held a memorial ceremony last week in Lompoc.
Monday’s mission marked the 25th space burial for Celestis in the 30 years since the firm’s founding.
With its first mission in 1997, Celestis has seen more than 2,500 people from 35 nations represented on the memorial spaceflights that have involved hitching a ride on various rockets delivering other payloads to space.
That first mission originated from Vandenberg, but the air-launched Pegasus rocket’s drop occurred over the Canary Islands. The mission included symbolic cremains of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and 1960s guru Timothy Leary.
Other missions have seen other “Star Trek” cast members’ remains along with “a whole bunch of everyday folks” travel to orbit the sun, according to Charles Chafer, Celestis chief executive officer.
Along with the Earth orbit missions, the firm also offers opportunities for so-called space burials, including Earth Rise flights such as Monday’s.
“What makes Earth Rise special is that you’ll receive the flown capsule of your loved one as soon as we get them back from the mission,” Chafer said. “So you’ll have a forever keepsake from the launch, and we’re just thrilled to be able to provide that service.”
For Monday’s mission, the Celestis Perseverance Flight was part of The Exploration Co.’s Mission Possible capsule carrying payloads for 25 other clients from more than 10 countries, according to Erika Wagner, lead for U.S. business development for The Exploration Co.
The clients included a Romanian fluid physics experiment and an art package from Israel, she added.
The Exploration Co. is among new firms creating essentially luggage for customers seeking to get payloads into space for various purposes.
“I think this sort of ecosystem of things that are flying — it’s technology, it’s science, it’s art, it’s humanity. These are the doors that are opening broader in a more democratized way everyday with the changes that are happening in our industry,” Wagner said.
Mission Possible was set to return to Earth in a controlled re-entry using dual parachutes before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean between the Hawaiian Islands and the Aleutian Islands.
The Exploration Co. developed the Mission Possible as the second prototype.
“This demonstration will validate critical systems such as propulsion, avionics, re-entry aerodynamics, thermal protection and maritime recovery,” a SpaceX launch commentator said.
Deployment of the payloads occurred in three sequences before ending the Mission Possible capsule.
Other customers with satellites on board the rocket included Arcstone, a cubesat with a NASA instrument that can measure sunlight reflected off the moon to calibrate other spacecraft.
Maritime security will get a boost thanks to a pair of satellites, dubbed Arvaker 2 and 3, designed to help the Norwegian government and other global customers by allowing the rapid identification of vessels engaged in environmental crime, illegal fishing, smuggling and other unlawful activities.
The spacecraft also will support the search and rescue of ships in distress even when they have their Automatic Identification System (AIS) turned off, Norwegian officials sad.