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.

FMI: www.upaerospace.com