Monte Bertagnole, born January 26, 1960, in Salt Lake City, Utah, passed away on December 9, 2025.
Monte was always fascinated by space. His interest was likely fueled by watching and hearing about the space race as a young boy, including watching the Apollo 11 mission's Moon landing. From that point on, rockets, NASA, the solar system, and anything else related to space would capture his interest for the rest of his life.
He would build and paint model rockets, landers, and space shuttles. When he was a teenager, he would build and launch Estes-brand rockets and hope the parachute would open as he ran to retrieve it as it fell back to Earth. The rockets and engines would get bigger as his hobby grew.
As he dealt with health challenges later in life, he continued his fascination with space by returning to building models of rockets and shuttles, collecting space-themed commemorative coins and stamps along with picture-filled space-related books.
Having the opportunity to go to space in any form wasn’t something that he thought would be possible, but after completing his mission here on Earth, we hope his ride on the Celestis Serenity Flight into Earth’s orbit will provide him with the same amazement and wonder when he gets to look down at Earth as he spent during his lifetime on Earth looking up to space.
Godspeed, Monte, we love you.
