Famed Titanic Explorer Will Now Explore Space

Celestis Inc., a subsidiary of Space Services Inc. (Houston, Texas), announced today that the countdown has begun for the next Celestis Memorial Spaceflight – The Discovery Flight – currently scheduled for launch April 25, 2009 aboard a Spaceloft XL launch vehicle developed by UP Aerospace of Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Launch will occur from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

The Discovery Flight is dedicated to the spirit of our mission participants and to people everywhere who share the passion for exploration and discovery.

Among the "discoverers" honored aboard this mission will be Ralph White, who enjoyed a distinguished professional career as an award-winning cinematographer, video cameraman and editor, with over 30 years of production experience and hundreds of motion picture and television credits to his name. In 1985, he documented the expedition that found the wreck of the RMS Titanic, and in 1987 and 2000, he co-directed the salvage operation and photography during the recovery of over 5,000 artifacts from Titanic's debris field. He was the submersible cameraman for the 1991 IMAX feature film Titanica, and in 1995-96, he was the expedition leader and second unit cameraman for James Cameron's Academy Award winning feature film Titanic. Overall he made 35 dives to the 12,000 foot deep wreck of the Titanic.

"Ralph's wish was for his ashes to be scattered all over the world by his friends and fellow adventurers," said Ralph White’s fiancée, Rosaly Lopes. "His ashes have already been to all continents, but his friend Reda Anderson has done the ultimate by sending him into space."

The Discovery Flight will place a symbolic portion of the cremated remains of Ralph White and other flight participants into space on a suborbital trajectory similar to NASA's early Mercury manned spaceflights in the 1960s: This "Earth Rise Service" mission will launch flight capsules and modules into space and return them to Earth via parachute recovery. Once recovered the Celestis capsules and modules will be returned to family members and loved ones, providing them with a flown keepsake. In addition to its Earth Rise Service, Celestis also offers missions into Earth orbit, to the Moon, and into deep space.

"Ralph White epitomized the spirit of adventure and discovery that Celestis represents," said Charles Chafer, CEO of Celestis. "The celebrities and everyday people who participate in our various missions all shared in the dream of exploring the great unknown. With Celestis, the dream of spaceflight, and the desire to take part in the opening of the space frontier, can be realized – and is available to everyone. Further, the dramatic breakthrough in the cost to reach space presented by the Spaceloft XL launch vehicle has allowed Celestis to offer the lowest-priced memorial spaceflight ever – our Earth Rise Service."

This new launch vehicle is a single stage sub-orbital rocket, capable of carrying 110 pounds into space, 70 miles above the surface of the earth.

"UP Aerospace is honored to have been chosen by Celestis to provide the launch of their Earth Rise Service," said Jerry Larson, President of UP Aerospace, Inc. "Our long term commitments with Spaceport America and Celestis are essential elements that are enabling huge growth of this new emerging commercialization of space industry." Larson continued, "The launch of the Celestis spacecraft into space will set another milestone in space travel for New Mexico and establish this mission as perhaps one of the most memorable events ever flown from the Spaceport."

About Space Services Inc. and Celestis Inc.
The Space Services Inc. (SSI) team made history over 25 years ago with the launch of Conestoga 1, the first private rocket to reach outer space, opening the space arena to private enterprise. The founders of SSI and Celestis also pioneered post cremation memorial spaceflights in 1997 – Celestis Memorial Spaceflight Service – with the launch into space of a symbolic portion of the cremated remains of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and 60's pop icon Timothy Leary and 24 others. Working with NASA, they also placed Dr. Eugene Shoemaker's cremated remains on the lunar surface, symbolically making Dr. Shoemaker the first person to be buried on the Moon. Celestis is offering its space funeral service to people in the US, Japan, Germany, Canada, France, Russia, The Netherlands, Australia, etc. Funeral homes locally and internationally are offering these services to the general public.

For more information, visit www.MemorialSpaceflights.com, www.SpaceportAmerica.com, and www.UPAerospace.us.com

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Celestis helps families honor the memory of loved ones through unique, post-cremation memorial spaceflights.

Celestis, Inc.
2536 Amherst St. Suite J
Houston Texas 77005-3207 U.S.A.
PRESS CONTACT: Susan Schonfeld
Phone: 845-721-9456

This release was published on openPR.