Latest news with #Transporter14
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
SpaceX rocket launch may be visible in Arizona: Liftoff, where to watch in Phoenix
For the sixth and likely last time in June, SpaceX is planning to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Southern California. And like all but one of the commercial spaceflight company's missions this month from the state, the rocket will carry a batch of Starlink satellites for deployment into low-Earth orbit. The impending rocket launch, which could take place on a weekend morning, comes days after SpaceX's rideshare known as Transporter 14 also got off the ground from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. For that mission, a Falcon 9 rocket delivered 70 payloads to orbit for paying customers, including 166 capsules containing human remains bound for a cosmic memorial service. People in Arizona have a shot at catching a glimpse of the rocket soaring through the sky. But it's important to keep in mind that rocket launches can be — and often are — scrubbed or delayed due to any number of factors, including poor weather conditions or unexpected issues with spacecraft. Check back with for any updates on the rocket launch. Here's what to know about the launch from Southern California, as well as when and where to watch it in neighboring Arizona: California rocket launches: Here's a look at the upcoming SpaceX schedule from Vandenberg The launch is being targeted for Saturday, June 28, with backup opportunities available Sunday, June 29, according to a Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory. Multiple sites dedicated to tracking spaceflights suggest the three-hour launch window opens at 9:43 a.m. PT. Neither SpaceX nor the Vandenberg Space Force Base have publicly confirmed the launch. The launch will take place from Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. Most launches from Vandenberg fly at a south or southeast trajectory. The spaceflight will make use of the company's famous two-stage 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket, one of the world's most active, to deliver Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit. The altitude is low enough to allow for things like satellites to circle Earth fairly quickly. SpaceX will provide livestream of the launch on its website beginning about five minutes before liftoff, along with updates on social media site X. Because of Arizona's proximity to the launch site, there's a good chance people there can see the spacecraft streak across the sky, especially at night or very early morning. Here's a list of some possible viewing locations compiled by The Arizona Republic, a USA TODAY Network publication. Dobbins Lookout, South Mountain, 10919 S. Central Ave., Phoenix, Arizona Papago Park, 625 N. Galvin Parkway, Phoenix, Arizona Fountain Hills, a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, which in 2018 was designated a Dark Sky Community with little light pollution Superstition Mountains, located 40 miles from metro Phoenix in Arizona Cave Creek, a town in Maricopa County about 30 miles north of Fountain Hills, Arizona Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, 3400 Sky Harbor Blvd., Arizona, which has a parking garage that is popular for plane-watching Black Canyon City, an unincorporated community in Yavapai County, Arizona Any mountain park in Arizona , 14805 W. Vineyard Ave., Goodyear, Arizona , 2600 N. Watson Road, Buckeye, Arizona , 20304 W. White Tank Mountain Road, Waddell, Arizona , 6533 W. Phillips Road, Queen Creek, Arizona Monument Hill, a 150-foot slope on 115th Avenue, in Arizona Elon Musk, the world's richest man, founded SpaceX in 2002. The commercial spaceflight company is headquartered at Starbase in South Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border. The site, which is where SpaceX has been conducting routine flight tests of its 400-foot megarocket known as Starship, was recently voted by residents to become its own city. SpaceX conducts many of its own rocket launches, most using the Falcon 9 rocket, from both California and Florida. That includes a regular cadence of deliveries of Starlink internet satellites into orbit, and occasional privately funded commercial crewed missions on the Dragon. The most recent of SpaceX's private human spaceflights, a mission known as Fram2, took place in April. SpaceX was also famously involved in funding and operating the headline-grabbing Polaris Dawn crewed commercial mission in September 2024. SpaceX additionally benefits from billions of dollars in contracts from NASA and the Department of Defense by providing launch services for classified satellites and other payloads. Owned by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Starlink is a constellation of more than 7,000 satellites that provide internet service to customers around the world. SpaceX has spent more than six years delivering the satellites to orbit with a regular cadence of rocket launches from both Florida and California. While most satellite internet services operate from single geostationary satellites orbiting Earth at about 22,236 miles, Starlink is a constellation of thousands of satellites that operate from a low-Earth orbit, about 341 miles up. That allows Starlink's satellites to have lower latency and data time between user and the satellite, improving performance of things like streaming, online gaming and video calls. Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: SpaceX rocket launch visible in Arizona sky? When is Falcon 9 liftoff
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
This Texas company has sent remains of sent 'Star Trek' actors, others to space
Since the dawn of humanity, we humans have found countless ways to honor our dead. From traditional burials to the scattering of one's ashes at sea, the methods for the deceased to be honored are as varied as the cultures that comprise our world. But what about those who prefer to be memorialized on a more cosmic scale? Well, it turns out they have that option, too. For about three decades, a company based in Texas has billed itself as the first and most prominent business to offer what's referred to as "space burials." Celestis, which recently conducted a mission from California, offers services that involve sending cremated remains or human DNA beyond Earth's atmosphere. Often, familiar faces and well-known public figures − from "Star Trek" cast members to U.S. presidents − have had their remains flown to orbit as part of a celestial burial or memorial. Many of Celestis' memorial spaceflights have launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Southern California. Here's what to know about Celestis and its memorial spaceflights. Celestis is a company based in Houston, Texas, specializing in transporting human remains to space for cosmic memorials. Capsules containing DNA and human remains are included as payloads on spacecraft launched into orbit from all over the world by other companies, including SpaceX and the United Launch Alliance. Celestis' services allow for families to pay for cremated remains in capsules or DNA to be launched into space, where they can either return intact or remain until they reenter Earth's atmosphere, "harmlessly vaporizing like a shooting star in final tribute," the company says on its website. In another offering, the company facilitates the transportation of memorial capsules to interplanetary space well beyond the moon. Elysium Space, based in San Francisco, California, also offers memorial spaceflights. The company has conducted just three "space burial" missions since 2015, including from Hawaii, California and Florida, according to its website. Celestis' most recent payload of memorial capsules was included in a SpaceX rideshare mission known as Transporter 14. The mission got off the ground Monday, June 23, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. A total of 166 individual Celestis memorial capsules were on board a Nyx spacecraft manufactured by Europe-based The Exploration Company (TEC,) which hitched a ride on SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 rocket. The payload of memorial capsules was part of about 70 total payloads, including small satellites, that the Falcon 9 helped to deliver for paying customers to a sun-synchronous orbit, meaning they matched Earth's rotation around the sun. The launch was meant to be Celestis' first-ever to return from an altitude high enough to be considered Earth's orbit. The Nyx module reached low-Earth orbit, where it traveled for three hours at about 17,000 miles per hour and completed two full orbits around Earth. But instead of safely reentering Earth's atmosphere to land in the Pacific Ocean as planned, the Nyx spacecraft's parachute failed and it crashed into the sea, losing the capsules. If you want to send your deceased loved one on a final cosmic journey, the cost to do so isn't that much different from the price of the average typical funeral or burial service. The cheapest option of sending memorial capsules to space and back, known as "Earth rise," starts at $3,495. The price to send a loved one's remains all the way up to orbit starts at $4,995. After that, though, the costs for Celestis' services start to climb. Both the company's lunar burial and interplanetary services start at $12,995, according to its website. The recent mission was Celestis' 25th overall since it was founded in 1994. The company's maiden voyage took place in April 1997, when a Pegasus rocket carrying the remains of 24 people, including "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, launched over the Spanish Canary Islands. The flight capsules on board a Celestis spacecraft then reentered Earth's atmosphere about a month later. Celestis' first and only successful lunar burial mission to date then occurred a year later in January 1998 from what was then still called the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Conducted at NASA's request, the mission included a capsule on board the agency's Lunar Prospector containing the ashes of geologist Eugene Shoemaker. Celestis has no more missions planned for 2025, according to its website. The next flight, planned for early 2026, appears to be an orbital mission launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida. Reservations are open until Aug. 1, 2025. Celestis previously made headlines in January 2024 when its plans to land human remains on the moon's surface attracted some controversy. The plan was for the remains and DNA of more than 70 deceased people to be included on a lunar lander bound for the moon. That included – once again – remains of Roddenberry, as well as science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. Elysium Space also contracted to have cremated human remains and DNA of clients placed aboard the lunar lander. But Navajo Nation, the largest tribe of Native Americans in the United States, vehemently opposed the lunar burial, penning a letter decrying the plans as "a profound desecration." Ultimately, though, the remains never made it to the moon's surface anyway. Pittsburgh-based aerospace company Astrobotic's Peregrine lander fell short of its destination when it began leaking a "critical" amount of propellant – instead burning up in Earth's atmosphere after launch. "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry and Arthur C. Clarke, best known for authoring "2001: A Space Odyssey" that inspired Stanley Kubrick's film of the same name, are not the only well-known people whose remains have flown to outer space on a Celestis mission. Among the notable names to have been included are several actors from the original "Star Trek" series and NASA astronauts. Here's a list Celestis provided to the USA TODAY Network: James Doohan, who portrayed Scotty in the original "Star Trek" series (remember the phrase, "Beam me up, Scotty"?) Nichelle Nichols, the first Black woman featured in a major television series who portrayed Nyota Uhura in "Star Trek" DeForest Kelley, who portrayed Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the original "Star Trek" series Three American presidents, George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, whose DNA in the form of hair samples was included on past flights Several NASA astronauts, including L. Gordon Cooper, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, and NASA's first Australian-American Astronaut, Philip K. Chapman Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cosmic burials? Company lets you send love one's remains to space
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
This company sends human remains to space for cosmic memorials. Many launch from Florida
Since the dawn of humanity, we humans have found countless ways to honor our dead. From traditional burials to the scattering of one's ashes at sea, the methods for the deceased to be honored are as varied as the cultures that comprise our world. But what about those who prefer to be memorialized on a more cosmic scale? Well, it turns out they have that option, too. For about three decades, a company based in Texas has billed itself as the first and most prominent business to offer what's referred to as "space burials." Celestis, which recently conducted a mission from California, offers services that involve sending cremated remains or human DNA beyond Earth's atmosphere. Often, familiar faces and well-known public figures − from "Star Trek" cast members to U.S. presidents − have had their remains flown to orbit as part of a celestial burial or memorial. Many of Celestis' memorial spaceflights have launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base and NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Here's what to know about Celestis and its memorial spaceflights. Celestis is a company based in Houston, Texas, specializing in transporting human remains to space for cosmic memorials. Capsules containing DNA and human remains are included as payloads on spacecraft launched into orbit by other companies, including SpaceX and United Launch Alliance. Celestis' services allow for families to pay for cremated remains in capsules or DNA to be launched into space, where they can either return intact or remain until they reenter Earth's atmosphere, "harmlessly vaporizing like a shooting star in final tribute," the company says on its website. In another offering, the company facilitates the transportation of memorial capsules to interplanetary space well beyond the moon. Celestis' most recent payload of memorial capsules was included in a SpaceX rideshare mission known as Transporter 14. The mission got off the ground Monday, June 23, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. A total of 166 individual Celestis memorial capsules were on board a Nyx spacecraft manufactured by Europe-based The Exploration Company (TEC,) which hitched a ride on SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 rocket. The payload of memorial capsules was part of about 70 total payloads, including small satellites, that the Falcon 9 helped to deliver for paying customers to a sun-synchronous orbit, meaning they matched Earth's rotation around the sun. The launch was meant to be Celestis' first-ever to return from an altitude high enough to be considered Earth's orbit. The Nyx module reached low-Earth orbit, where it traveled for three hours at about 17,000 miles per hour and completed two full orbits around Earth. But instead of safely reentering Earth's atmosphere to land in the Pacific Ocean as planned, the Nyx spacecraft's parachute failed and it crashed into the sea, losing the capsules. If you want to send your deceased loved one on a final cosmic journey, the cost to do so isn't that much different from the price of the average typical funeral or burial service. The cheapest option of sending memorial capsules to space and back, known as "Earth rise," starts at $3,495. The price to send a loved one's remains all the way up to orbit starts at $4,995. After that, though, the costs for Celestis' services start to climb. Both the company's lunar burial and interplanetary services start at $12,995, according to its website. The recent mission was Celestis' 25th overall since it was founded in 1994. The company's maiden voyage took place in April 1997, when a Pegasus rocket carrying the remains of 24 people, including "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, launched over the Spanish Canary Islands. The flight capsules on board a Celestis spacecraft then reentered Earth's atmosphere about a month later. Celestis' first and only successful lunar burial mission to date then occurred a year later in January 1998 from what was then still called the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Conducted at NASA's request, the mission included a capsule on board the agency's Lunar Prospector containing the ashes of geologist Eugene Shoemaker. Celestis has no more missions planned for 2025, according to its website. The next flight, planned for early 2026, appears to be an orbital mission launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base. Reservations are open until Aug. 1, 2025. Celestis previously made headlines in January 2024 when its plans to land human remains on the moon's surface attracted some controversy. The plan was for the remains and DNA of more than 70 deceased people to be included on a lunar lander bound for the moon. That included – once again – remains from 'Star Trek' creator Gene Roddenberry, as well as science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. But Navajo Nation, the largest tribe of Native Americans in the United States, vehemently opposed the lunar burial, penning a letter decrying the plans as "a profound desecration." Ultimately, though, the remains never made it to the moon's surface anyway. Pittsburgh-based aerospace company Astrobotic's Peregrine lander fell short of its destination when it began leaking a "critical" amount of propellant – instead burning up in Earth's atmosphere after launch. Roddenberry and Clarke, best known for authoring "2001: A Space Odyssey" that inspired Stanley Kubrick's film of the same name, are not the only well-known people whose remains have flown to outer space on a Celestis mission. Among the notable names to have been included are several actors from the original "Star Trek" series and NASA astronauts. Here's a list Celestis provided to the USA TODAY Network: James Doohan, who portrayed Scotty in the original "Star Trek" series (remember the phrase, "Beam me up, Scotty"?) Nichelle Nichols, the first Black woman featured in a major television series who portrayed Nyota Uhura in "Star Trek" DeForest Kelley, who portrayed Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the original "Star Trek" series Three American presidents, George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, whose DNA in the form of hair samples was included on past flights Several NASA astronauts, including L. Gordon Cooper, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, and NASA's first Australian-American Astronaut, Philip K. Chapman Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on Florida Today: You can send a loved one's remains to space: Cosmic memorials, explained
USA Today
26-06-2025
- Business
- USA Today
This Texas company has sent remains of sent 'Star Trek' actors, others to space
For about three decades, a company based in Texas has billed itself as the first and most prominent business to offer what's referred to as "space burials." Since the dawn of humanity, we humans have found countless ways to honor our dead. From traditional burials to the scattering of one's ashes at sea, the methods for the deceased to be honored are as varied as the cultures that comprise our world. But what about those who prefer to be memorialized on a more cosmic scale? Well, it turns out they have that option, too. For about three decades, a company based in Texas has billed itself as the first and most prominent business to offer what's referred to as "space burials." Celestis, which recently conducted a mission from California, offers services that involve sending cremated remains or human DNA beyond Earth's atmosphere. Often, familiar faces and well-known public figures − from "Star Trek" cast members to U.S. presidents − have had their remains flown to orbit as part of a celestial burial or memorial. Many of Celestis' memorial spaceflights have launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Southern California. Here's what to know about Celestis and its memorial spaceflights. What is Celestis? Houston, Texas, company takes human remains to space Celestis is a company based in Houston, Texas, specializing in transporting human remains to space for cosmic memorials. Capsules containing DNA and human remains are included as payloads on spacecraft launched into orbit from all over the world by other companies, including SpaceX and the United Launch Alliance. Celestis' services allow for families to pay for cremated remains in capsules or DNA to be launched into space, where they can either return intact or remain until they reenter Earth's atmosphere, "harmlessly vaporizing like a shooting star in final tribute," the company says on its website. In another offering, the company facilitates the transportation of memorial capsules to interplanetary space well beyond the moon. What other companies offer 'space burials'? Elysium Space, based in San Francisco, California, also offers memorial spaceflights. The company has conducted just three "space burial" missions since 2015, including from Hawaii, California and Florida, according to its website. Celestis sent memorial capsules on a SpaceX rocket launch in California Celestis' most recent payload of memorial capsules was included in a SpaceX rideshare mission known as Transporter 14. The mission got off the ground Monday, June 23, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. A total of 166 individual Celestis memorial capsules were on board a Nyx spacecraft manufactured by Europe-based The Exploration Company (TEC,) which hitched a ride on SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 rocket. The payload of memorial capsules was part of about 70 total payloads, including small satellites, that the Falcon 9 helped to deliver for paying customers to a sun-synchronous orbit, meaning they matched Earth's rotation around the sun. The launch was meant to be Celestis' first-ever to return from an altitude high enough to be considered Earth's orbit. The Nyx module reached low-Earth orbit, where it traveled for three hours at about 17,000 miles per hour and completed two full orbits around Earth. But instead of safely reentering Earth's atmosphere to land in the Pacific Ocean as planned, the Nyx spacecraft's parachute failed and it crashed into the sea, losing the capsules. How much does a Celestis flight cost? If you want to send your deceased loved one on a final cosmic journey, the cost to do so isn't that much different from the price of the average typical funeral or burial service. The cheapest option of sending memorial capsules to space and back, known as "Earth rise," starts at $3,495. The price to send a loved one's remains all the way up to orbit starts at $4,995. After that, though, the costs for Celestis' services start to climb. Both the company's lunar burial and interplanetary services start at $12,995, according to its website. How many memorial flights or cosmic memorials has Celestis conducted? The recent mission was Celestis' 25th overall since it was founded in 1994. The company's maiden voyage took place in April 1997, when a Pegasus rocket carrying the remains of 24 people, including "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, launched over the Spanish Canary Islands. The flight capsules on board a Celestis spacecraft then reentered Earth's atmosphere about a month later. Celestis' first and only successful lunar burial mission to date then occurred a year later in January 1998 from what was then still called the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Conducted at NASA's request, the mission included a capsule on board the agency's Lunar Prospector containing the ashes of geologist Eugene Shoemaker. When is the next Celestis memorial flight? Celestis has no more missions planned for 2025, according to its website. The next flight, planned for early 2026, appears to be an orbital mission launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida. Reservations are open until Aug. 1, 2025. Celestis previously sought to bring human remains to the moon Celestis previously made headlines in January 2024 when its plans to land human remains on the moon's surface attracted some controversy. The plan was for the remains and DNA of more than 70 deceased people to be included on a lunar lander bound for the moon. That included – once again – remains of Roddenberry, as well as science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. Elysium Space also contracted to have cremated human remains and DNA of clients placed aboard the lunar lander. But Navajo Nation, the largest tribe of Native Americans in the United States, vehemently opposed the lunar burial, penning a letter decrying the plans as "a profound desecration." Ultimately, though, the remains never made it to the moon's surface anyway. Pittsburgh-based aerospace company Astrobotic's Peregrine lander fell short of its destination when it began leaking a "critical" amount of propellant – instead burning up in Earth's atmosphere after launch. Who are some famous people whose remains have flown to orbit? "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry and Arthur C. Clarke, best known for authoring "2001: A Space Odyssey" that inspired Stanley Kubrick's film of the same name, are not the only well-known people whose remains have flown to outer space on a Celestis mission. Among the notable names to have been included are several actors from the original "Star Trek" series and NASA astronauts. Here's a list Celestis provided to the USA TODAY Network: Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Stargazers in Europe spot a strange cloud from SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket treated stargazers in Europe to a surprise display on the night of June 23, when a plume of rocket propellant briefly became visible to the naked eye. SpaceX's Transporter 14 mission lifted off from California's Vanderberg Space Force Base earlier this week carrying 70 commercial payloads bound for low-Earth orbit aboard one of the company's workhorse Falcon 9 rockets. The June 23 launch saw the first stage of the reusable rocket make a controlled landing on the droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Pacific Ocean, while the payload-bearing upper stage powered on to its target orbit. Transporter 14's upper stage proceeded to deploy its payloads and release a plume of rocket propellant prior to re-entering Earth's atmosphere, which quickly froze and reflected sunlight, becoming visible to eagle-eyed stargazers in Europe. Luckily, the Virtual Telescope Project's all sky camera captured the diffuse cloud of particles in the night sky above Manciano, Italy at 8:13 p.m. EDT on June 23 (0013 GMT June 24) alongside the softly glowing, dust choked band of the Milky Way. Oxfordshire-based astrophotographer and science communicator Mary McIntyre also recorded a number of time-lapse videos around the same time as the plume passed swiftly over the U.K., using meteor and aurora-hunting cameras. Similar plumes have been spotted in the wake of previous rideshare missions where a Falcon 9 upper stage has been ordered to perform a fuel purge. The orientation and movement of rocket upper stages have been known to create unique patterns and majestic swirls in the night sky, though on this occasion the propellant lacked any such defined structure. Some scientists believe that rocket propellant may play a part in the formation of high altitude 'night shining' noctilucent clouds - a phenomenon that is more common at northerly altitudes, but has been spotted manifesting closer to the equator in recent decades.
