Phillip Chapman was slated for Skylab Bs mission to space however, this program was canceled. In mid-1972, Chapman resigned from his NASA post. (NASA) [email protected] Thu Apr 20 15:39:35 -0600 2023 1682026772 FILENAME: 1954410.jpeg
A recent Celestis memorial spaceflight mission successfully roars off the launch pad at Spaceport America. On Monday, a UP Aerospace rocket ferrying the ashes of a former astronaut crashed following its launch. (Courtesy Celestis)
An Up Aerospace rocket loaded with NASA-financed payload experiments and the cremated ashes of late astronaut Philip K. Chapman failed immediately after launching Monday morning at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico. One news station reported that the Spaceloft XL rocket exploded moments after liftoff. But UP Aerospace Vice President of Operations Tracey Larson said there was no explosion. Rather, the rocket motor malfunctioned, causing the vehicle to crash back to the ground. "There was an anomaly, but it didn't explode," Larson told the Journal. "The motor didn't burn as it should have … It all landed within the spaceport's safety range, and we were able to recover the rocket and the payloads to return them to customers." Still, it's the first time the company — which has flown scores of payloads into suborbit on multiple launches from Spaceport America since 2006 — has faced this type of failure, which the company's onsite crew is now scrutinizing to determine what happened. "We know we had an anomaly, and we've got some idea of what went wrong, but nothing concrete yet," Larson said. "It actually looks pretty minor. We're not too worried about it and we have full confidence we'll be up and flying again fairly soon."
Phillip Chapman was slated for Skylab Bs mission to space however, this program was canceled. In mid-1972, Chapman resigned from his NASA post. (NASA) [email protected] Thu Apr 20 15:39:35 -0600 2023 1682026772 FILENAME: 1954410.jpeg
