James Doohan

[Guest guest]

UPHAM, N.M. - The cremated remains of actor James Doohan, who

portrayed engineer " Scotty " on " Star Trek, " and of Mercury astronaut

Gordon Cooper soared into suborbital space Saturday aboard a rocket.

 

It was the first successful launch from Spaceport America, a

commercial spaceport being developed in the southern New Mexico

desert.

 

Suzan Cooper and Wende Doohan fired the rocket carrying small amounts

of their husbands' ashes, and those of about 200 others, at 8:56 a.m.

local time.

 

" Go baby, go baby, " said Eric Knight of the commercial launch

company, UP Aerospace Inc. of Farmington, Conn.

 

Since it was a suborbital flight, the rocket soon parachuted back to

Earth, coming down at the White Sands Missile Range.

 

" We nailed it. We stuck the landing, " said Knight.

 

UP Aerospace launched the first rocket from the desert site in

September, but that Spaceloft XL rocket crashed into the desert after

spiraling out of control about nine seconds after liftoff. Company

officials blamed the failure on a faulty fin design.

 

Family members paid $495 to place a few grams of their relatives'

ashes on the rocket. Celestis, a Houston company, contracted with UP

to send the cremated remains into space.

 

Family and friends who watched the 20-foot rocket take off from about

4 miles away cheered and cried as it flew and the mission control

center announced the launch was successful.

 

Wende Doohan, of Renton, Wash., said her husband of 30 years sought a

space ride for his remains after " Star Trek " creator Gene

Roddenberry's remains were launched in 1997. James Doohan died in

July 2005 at age 85.

 

On Saturday morning she wore a flight jacket from Doohan's son-in-

law, Air Force Reserve Chief Master Sgt. Paul Pritchard, who died

this week of cancer.

 

" He and Jimmy are together watching history, " Wende Doohan said.

 

Kathy Allums' uncle, James Roach, told relatives long before his

death three years ago that he wanted his remains flown to space. Some

laughed at the seemingly crazy idea.

 

" I'm just beside myself, " said Allums, of Arlington, Texas. " It's

more than what I expected. It's exactly what he would have wanted. "

 

Charles Chafer, chief executive of Celestis, said last month that a

CD with more than 11,000 condolences and fan notes was placed on the

rocket with Doohan's remains.

 

The launch from the fledgling spaceport — currently a 100-foot by 25-

foot concrete slab in a patch of desert more than 50 miles north of

Las Cruces — keeps the New Mexico project ahead of its nearest

competitor, in West Texas.

 

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, is said to be developing the

spaceport north of Van Horn, Texas. Bezos' Blue Origin is working to

develop tourist space flights.

 

British billionaire Richard Branson also has announced plans to

launch a space tourism company, which is expected to have its

headquarters at the New Mexico spaceport.