"Now we can all say 'Mission Accomplished,'" said Rick Homans, executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. "Scotty and Gordon Cooper's final trip to space took a little longer than we expected, but we can be sure they had a beautiful ride and we welcome them and all the other astronauts back to Planet Earth and to New Mexico."

For details on how the payload was found, see this MSNBC Cosmic Log article. Also see Leonard David's Space.com article along with his LiveScience.com blog. Visit www.upaerospace.com and Celestis' Legacy Flight page for ongoing updates.

05.14.07 — First, the latest news out of New Mexico: "Scotty" is not "lost" as some news reports would have you believe. Officials know that the rocket carrying the ashes of James Doohan and 201 others landed within the intended target zone, but in the two weeks since flight, efforts to recover the payload have been hampered by a number of conditions.

The target zone — stipulated by the military to minimize the risk of the rocket landing in a populated area should it go awry — is a mountainous region at the White Sands Missile Range (just east of Spaceport America). It is not accessible by foot or by vehicle, but only by helicopter, and severe weather since the launch has allowed limited opportunities for such excursions. (It's extremely fortunate that the weather cooperated the way it did for the launch, as thunderstorms swept into the area later that day. There have also been tornadoes and floods in the past two weeks.)

The "pings" from the rocket's four recovery beacons have been heard, but the signals have been bouncing off the rugged terrain, so pinpointing the exact origin has been difficult. This week the manufacturer of those transmitters will be flying in with specialized equipment to better home in on those pings. Officials are confident the payload will be found this week. Upon retrieval, the capsules containing the cremated remains of each memorialized participant will be mounted on a plaque by Celestis, the memorial spaceflight service, and returned to the families.

Wende Doohan, Jimmy's widow, has issued a statement through Space Services Inc., the parent company of Celestis:

"I have the utmost faith in Jerry Larson and UP Aerospace, and appreciate all that they are doing to expedite the recovery of the rocket. I was very glad to hear that the transmitters are still 'talking,' which should help in finding the rocket needle in the White Sands haystack. This cannot be an easy task. A little cooperation from the weather would be nice, as well as a couple of trained mountain goats to handle the terrain.

"My thanks to Charlie Chafer and Space Services for ensuring integrity of the participants on board. This may be a difficult time for some people, but I have read the biography statements on many of the participants and recognize their sense of adventure, realizing that this is only part of that journey. It's all a learning process from launch through recovery, and I know Jimmy would be proud to participate in any event that helped us achieve frequent and regular space travel.

"I don't believe the rocket is really lost anyway. Jimmy and Col. [Gordon] Cooper are just taking the scenic route home — and as real men, they didn't ask for directions. As well as all the science experiments on board, somebody should have packed a map. I can just hear Scotty now, 'I dinna know where on Earth we are — I'm an engineer, not a navigator!'

"Warm regards,
Wende C. Doohan"

Michael Lucas, son of John Meredyth Lucas — also part of this mission — adds: "I guess they have boldly gone where no man can go right now..."

Watch www.upaerospace.com for the latest official updates from UP Aerospace, the launch provider also responsible for the recovery. They just posted a photo of the mountainous "recovery zone." Science writer Leonard David has also been regularly posting updates at his LiveScience.com blog, with statements from UP president Jerry Larson.

Background

To recap the story previously covered in a breaking news report, the memorial spaceflight carrying the ashes of James Doohan and 201 others successfully lifted off on Saturday, April 28, and entered space for several minutes before parachuting back to Earth. It was a fulfillment of Jimmy's wish to follow in the footsteps of Gene Roddenberry — who was similarly memorialized almost exactly 10 years prior — and finally, really fly into the final frontier, if only symbolically.

The Saturday launch was the culmination of two days of activities in southern New Mexico. It was exhausting for all involved because, not only was the weekend intrinsically emotional, but things got started very early each morning, and the driving times between locations ranged from one to two hours.

Wende Doohan was the most prominent VIP guest of the event, and the most sought-after interviewee by the press. Suzan Cooper — widow of L. Gordon Cooper, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, who died in 2004 — was also a very important part of the program. Besides their place of honor in the Friday memorial service, Wende and Suzan together pushed the button that fired the rocket on Saturday when the countdown reached zero.

(It's interesting to note — as was mentioned in the Friday memorial service — that both Doohan and Cooper passed away on anniversaries of significant space program landmarks. Cooper died on October 4, the anniversary of the flight of Sputnik, the first manmade object to enter space. Doohan died on July 20, the anniversary of mankind's first steps on the Moon. On a side note, October 4 was named Gene Roddenberry Day in nearby El Paso in 2002.)

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