Scotty's ashes 'stuck on top of mountain'
A rocket carrying the ashes of actor James Doohan – Scotty on Star Trek – and astronaut Gordon Cooper should be recovered within a week from a remote New Mexico mountain range, the launch company said.
UP Aerospace Inc president Jerry Larson said recovery crews can get no closer than 1,300 feet to the cargo because it landed in rocky, steep terrain in the San Andres Mountains.
“It’s on top of the mountain,” Larson said. “The only way to get in there is by helicopter. But once we spot it, getting it out is the easy part.”
The rocket, carrying remains of about 200 people, made a four-minute suborbital flight and parachuted back to Earth.
UP Aerospace launched the 20-foot rocket on April 28.
It was the first successful attempt to reach space from New Mexico’s fledgling Spaceport America, which is under development north of Las Cruces.
Attempts to recover the rocket last week failed because of bad weather, including tornadoes that struck other areas of the Army’s restricted White Sands Missile Range.
