This time, it appears they are going to beam the Star Trek's Engineering Officer down - into the ground.
Posted on 05/19/2007 12:36:29 PM PDT by Zakeet
The payload container carrying experiments and the cremated ashes of some 200 dearly departed people — a cargo that includes remains of the beloved "Scotty" of "Star Trek" fame — has been recovered in the New Mexico mountains.
"It has been found. It is in good shape," Eric Knight, co-founder of the rocket firm, UP Aerospace, that launched the cargo, told SPACE.com Friday.
That payload section of UP Aerospace's second SpaceLoft XL rocket landed in rough mountainous terrain in the White Sands Missile Range after blasting off April 28th from New Mexico's Spaceport America.
The suborbital rocket shot the payload section up into space, with the booster stage and the top section individually parachuting back down to terra firma.
[Snip]
Repeated searches of a projected landing zone had come up empty handed since the rocket was launched. Bad weather as well as rough-and-tumble terrain made searches by helicopter tough duty.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
This time, it appears they are going to beam the Star Trek's Engineering Officer down - into the ground.
Will they grant his ashes amnesty now or deport them back to Scotland? I’m betting on the latter.
bfl
Thread hijacking of the year award candidate!
Ah, er.........nope, not gonna touch it.
“Thread hijacking of the year award candidate!”
The real hijack are people who claim that cracking a joke about 2 unrelated current event issues is a ‘thread hijack.’
What goes up...
:^)
I can’t tell from the article if the “payload” was supposed to stay in space or come back to earth. What would be the purpose of sending ashes up then parachuting them down?
The payload was supposed to be launched forever into deep space. The return to earth was a malfunction. That was undoubtedly brought about because Scotty was unfortunately in no condition to pull off his usual mission-saving miracle.
Since the payload also contained several experiments, it stands to reason that it was intended to be recovered.
When you two finish deciding the purpose of the launch please let me know. I’m still confused about it.
From an earlier (pre-launch) article:
The payload will be carried about 70 miles up before returning. Parachutes will then deploy to bring the ashes back to earth. Customers pay between $495 and $1,495 to place remains of loved ones into an aluminum capsule and send them up.
Houston-based Space Services Inc., which specializes in space memorials, plans to send a few grams of Doohan’s ashes aboard a rocket later this year. Remains are sealed in an aluminum capsule that stays in orbit up to several hundred years before falling and vaporizing in the Earth’s atmosphere, the company has said.
Now I'm confused, too. We're all confused together!
Since the payload also contained several experiments, it stands to reason that it was intended to be recovered.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::
Some don’t need to come back. Like the Mars rover.
Wow, how did they get a mars rover into one of those little tubes??
susie
“Wow, how did they get a mars rover into one of those little tubes??”
Very carefully. Actually, it’s the rover’s ashes...
Captain, I am giving all I got! We can’t keep past warp 5 or the engine will blow!
It's like Arbusto and Congress saying they are going to secure the borders...
I guess they can say that [part of] Scottie finally made it into space.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.