Celestis

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Manufacturer's Designation: CPAC/Orion 38. Class: Burial. Destination: Medium Earth Orbit. Nation: USA. Agency: OSC. Manufacturer: Orbital Sciences.

Celestis offers the loved ones of the space-smitten deceases the opportunity to have (a portion) of their cremains put into orbit.

Typical orbit: 765 km circular orbit, 103.1 deg inclination. Associated Launch Vehicle: Taurus.

Celestis Chronology

1998 February 10 - Celestis-02 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Taurus. Perigee: 780 km (480 mi). Apogee: 876 km (544 mi). Inclination: 108.00 deg. Period: 101.50 min.

1999 December 21 - Celestis-03 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Taurus. Perigee: 683 km (424 mi). Apogee: 723 km (449 mi). Inclination: 98.30 deg.
Burial satellite containing cremated human remains.

2001 September 21 - Celestis-4 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Taurus. FAILURE: A problem a few seconds after first stage separation caused the rocket to go off course; it recovered and the remainder of the stages fired, but final cutoff velocity was too low to reach a sustainable orbit. Mass: 368 kg (811 lb).
Celestis-4 consisted of two Celestis burial canisters containing cremated human remains. After the launch vehicle failure Celestis guaranteed a relaunch of back-up remains.

Bibliography:

McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page (launch records), Harvard University, 1997-present. Web Address when accessed: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
NASA/GSFC Orbital Information Group Website, Web Address when accessed: http://oig1.gsfc.nasa.gov/.
Space-Launcher.com, Orbital Report News Agency. Web Address when accessed: http://www.orbireport.com/Log.html.

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© Mark Wade, 1997 - 2008 except where otherwise noted.