Click on any of the thumbnails below to view their respective videos. For multi-part video sequences, click the thumbnail to view the first in the series, or click to any part directly using the appropriate link below each thumbnail.
Mission
Control - Spaceport America, New Mexico
Below are videos of both the payload integration and the launchpad tour. After travelling by bus from Las Cruces to Spaceport America, New Mexico, we visited Mission Control, which was housed in two trailers located about one mile from the launch pad. A representative of UP Aerospace – the company that builds and launches the SpaceLoft XL rocket we use – gave us an overview of Mission Control, of what happens during the countdown, and of the rocket’s flight path.
The news media interviewed family members outside Mission Control.We took our bus for the one-mile trip to the launch pad where UP Aerospace President Jerry Larson and Celestis CEO Charles Chafer briefed family members and the press about the launch to occur the following morning.
The Discovery Flight: Introduction
Payload Integration
courtesy of KRQE Ch. 13
Mission Overview from Jerry Larson,
CEO of UP Aerospace
Jerry Larson explains the different payloads on board
Pre-launch footage of SL-3 rocket on pad
Explanation of SL-3 rocket trajectory in UP Aerospace mission control
Memorial
Service - At the Bosque, Las Cruces, New Mexico
We
hold a non-sectarian memorial service for each of our
launches. These services are always very emotionally-moving
occasions that mean a lot to the families of those on
board as well as to all of us here at Celestis. We held
the Discovery Flight memorial service in a
charming, brand new state park located on the banks
of the Rio Grande. A string quartet provided music for
the service where family members shared memories of
their loved ones.
Charles Chafer, CEO of Celestis
speaks of the participants on
the Discovery Flight
Reda Anderson speaks of
her friend, Ralph White,
famed Titanic explorer
We boarded buses at 5:30 am in Las Cruces and travelled the long, gravel road to the launch viewing area. A huge tent had been erected where speakers spoke both before and after the launch. Hundreds of people who gathered in the middle of the New Mexico desert faced east, toward the launch pad, during the countdown and watched the SpaceLoft XL lift off, flying high over their heads. Then we interviewed family members to get their reactions to the launch.
3...2...1...Liftoff!
Post-Launch Interview:
Reda Anderson
Post-Launch Interview:
The Howes
Post-Launch Interview:
Dotty Graves
Interview with Charles Chafer,
CEO of Celestis
Interview with David Hannah, Jr.
Founder of Space Services of America
