A rocket successfully launched from Spaceport America today but failed in its goal of reaching suborbital space.
Spaceport Authority Executive Director Steve Landeene was quoted by The Associated Press as saying that he doesn’t know why the rocket didn’t reach the 62-mile boundary of space. It touched down on Bureau of Land Management property and is in the process of being recovered.
It’s the third time UP Aerospace has launched a SpaceLoft XL rocket from the spaceport. One of the three has reached space.
The rocket was carrying payloads developed and built by students from 10 high schools, technical schools and universities in addition to the cremated remains of 15 people and a payload being carried for the U.S. Air Force. It was supposed to climb about 70 miles above the earth and eight miles into suborbital space.
Though it didn’t do that, officials presented a positive analysis of the situation.
“Today’s launch was great experience for the students of New Mexico,” Landeene said in a news release. “Although we did not achieve the maximum altitude we wanted, the launch delivered on all the learning objectives that we wanted to provide the students. They received hands-on experience in designing and preparing their scientific experiments, and received experience unmatched in the classroom.”
A payload developed by New Mexico State University students was designed to test how flight components operate in suborbital space, according to the mission profile on the spaceport’s Web site. Another, developed by University of New Mexico students, was supposed to “demonstrate the ability to monitor and record a variety of physical parameters in an actual space flight environment,” the mission profile states.