* Astronomy

Rocket payload carries student projects

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A UP Aerospace SpaceLoft XL rocket carrying experiments by New Mexico high school and college students launched Saturday from Spaceport America, but failed to reach its target altitude of 75 miles.
The rocket also contained some of the remains of Ralph White, a cinematographer who documented the 1985 expedition that found the shipwrecked Titanic, and 17 other people, said Susan Schonfeld, a spokeswoman for Celestis, Inc.

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Todays launch of the UP Aerospace SpaceLoft XL rocket for the SL-3 Education launch is another step in developing the world's first commercial spaceport. Spaceport America and the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium created history with this first annual Education Launch that provided New Mexico students the opportunity to design and launch scientific experiments into space. Launch conditions and the countdown went flawlessly as planned at 8 a.m. MDT, although the rocket did not reach the predicted altitude, falling short of the 62-mile boundary of space. The rocket and payload have been located and are in the process of being recovered.

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