Officials recover UP Aerospace rocket payload

Some 20 days after an UP Aerospace rocket successfully reached space from Spaceport America, officials recovered its payload earlier today.

“The payload has been found safe and sound,” Eric Knight, co-founder of the company, told the Associated Press.

An announcement on the company’s Web site says the payload is in good condition.

The rocket landed in the rocky, steep San Andres Mountains on White Sands Missile Range, an area not accessible even with four-wheel-drive vehicles, and its exact location was unknown, so it took some time to pinpoint.

The rocket carried the ashes of 202 people in to space last month. It was the first successful launch from the spaceport.