Officials haven’t recovered UP Aerospace rocket

Officials haven’t yet retrieved the UP Aerospace rocket that successfully flew into space on Saturday, the Las Cruces Sun-News is reporting.

The rocket landed in the mountains on White Sands Missile Range and is difficult to reach. The area has had thunderstorms in the last few days (a tornado hit the ground near WSMR yesterday), which has also hampered efforts, the Sun-News reported.

The company located the rocket booster on Monday, but hasn’t been able to reach it yet. The location of the payload portion of the rocket is known because of a tracking device placed on board, but it’s a small object, and spotting it with a helicopter has proven difficult.

The area isn’t accessible even with four-wheel-drive vehicles, so a recovery team will try to transport the rocket out of the mountainous area using a helicopter, the newspaper reported.

UP Aerospace has a video showing the initial stage of the launch on its Web site. Click here to watch it.