Celestis is pleased to announce the launch of our eleventh memorial spaceflight, The New Frontier Flight, a mission dedicated to the pioneering spirit of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Liftoff occurred at 2:44 am CDT, Tuesday, May 22, 2012 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

This flight was an Earth Orbit Service mission that reentered the Earth's atmosphere at 10:22 pm CDT, June 26. The satellite's altitude varied between approximately 165 miles (265 kilometers) and 196 miles (315 kilometers), and orbited the Earth 576 times at an inclination (relative to the Earth's equator) of 51.7°.

The New Frontier Flight was dedicated to the spirit of the 320 mission participants and to people everywhere who share the passion for exploration and discovery. The spacecraft carried a symbolic portion of the cremated remains of each flight participant on Earth orbit. Among the people aboard this mission were Mercury Seven NASA astronaut L. Gordon Cooper, Star Trek actor James Doohan (who played “Mr. Scott”) and hundreds of people from various walks of life in the United States, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, China, India, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, The Netherlands, France, South Africa and Russia.

Celestis missions are environmentally friendly in that no cremated remains are released into space. Each Celestis spacecraft stays permanently attached to a rocket stage that orbits Earth until the spacecraft harmlessly re-enters and is completely consumed by Earth’s atmosphere — blazing like a shooting star in final tribute to the passengers aboard.

The New Frontier Flight flew with two other Celestis satellites currently orbiting our planet. In addition to its Earth orbit service, Celestis offers missions to the Moon, into deep space, and on trajectories that launch the cremated remains into space and return them to Earth.

“The celebrities and everyday people who participate in our various missions all shared in the dream of exploring the great unknown,” said Charles Chafer, CEO of Celestis. “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.”

reentry of The New Frontier Flight

The New Frontier Flight reentered Earth's atmosphere at 10:22 pm CDT June 26 (3:22 am GMT June 27) at an estimated position of 20°N, 111°E, over the South China Sea: See the red "X" in the map above.