Star Trek Star Scotty Rockets Into Space In Final Journey
London (ANI) May 01, 2007 The ashes of late Canadian actor James Doohan, known to all as Scotty in Star Trek, were blasted into space at a launch pad in New Mexico desert, on April 28. Fans thronged the ceremonial service for the actor, who died in 2005 July, in full Star Trek insignia, a day before SpaceLoft XL rocket was launched. Doohan's widow, Wende, said that her husband would be really excited because he had always fantasized about going to space in real life, as well as reel life. "He would be ecstatic. He would be the one pressing the button. He totally was so into space," Timeonline quoted her, as saying. On the space vehicle were messages as a tribute to Doohan and American Mercury 7 astronaut Gordon Cooper and 200 other people whose families paid 495 dollars for the privilege. Also blasted into space was a CD, 'Celestis: Space Ceremonial Music', recorded by the Russian band Cyclotimia. Scotty had to wait for two years to go into space after his death in 2005, July. Technical problem stalled his space voyage till his April 28 launch by Celestis memorial spaceflights at Spaceport America. Doohan will join Gene Roddenberry, the originator of the series, who went into apace in 1997, almost 6 years after his death.
Space Tourist Simonyi Awarded Great Cross Of Hungary Solyom said ex-Microsoft whiz kid Simonyi, 58, had "contributed to increasing Hungary's international renown" and thanked him for speaking from space several times in Hungarian and for noting his important ties to the country. Simonyi, who left his native Hungary at the age of 17 for the United States, replied that he was touched by this award and by Hungary's interest in his space flight. "I am grateful that you understand what Hungary, which I still hold in my heart, means to me on top of my American citizenship," he said, as he handed Solyom a Hungarian flag that had traveled to the International Space Station. Simonyi also met with a group of children Monday with whom he shared his experiences. The purpose of his brief visit to his country of origin was mainly to promote science, Simonyi said, adding that he was delighted that four million people had read his Internet blog, www.charlesinspace.com. Simonyi returned to earth on April 21 after a 25-million-dollar trip to the International Space Station that lasted 14 days, a record for space tourists. He was the fifth tourist to travel to the ISS, following Dennis Tito (2001) and Greg Olsen (2005) of the United States, South Africa's Mark Shuttleworth (2002) and an American of Iranian origin, Anousheh Ansari (2006).
Source: Agence France-Presse Related Links Celestis memorial spaceflights All about Space Tourism and more at Space-Travel.Com Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News
Student Engineering Team Headed For Near-Weightless Nasa Flight To Test Gyroscopic Robotic Arm Ithica NY (SPX) Apr 30, 2007 A robotic arm designed for spacecraft repair and maintenance will be put to the test next week in a near-weightless environment -- along with some of its Cornell student designers. Cornell's Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) Research Team, comprising graduate and undergraduate, mostly mechanical engineering students, is one of 34 schools selected by NASA for this year's Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program. The space agency invites students to experiment with engineering devices and principles aboard a nearly zero-gravity aircraft. |
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