In 1982, Space Services Inc. of America (SSI) – under the direction of Mercury 7 astronaut Donald K. “Deke” Slayton – made history as the first private enterprise to launch a rocket into outer space: Conestoga. SSI, under the direction of founder David Hannah, Jr., established the basis for today’s commercial space industry.

SSI was the first company to:

• Sign an agreement with NASA for the use of a national launch range – Wallops Island, VA;
• Receive a contract from NASA for the provision of commercial launch services – Consort 1/Starfire;
• Develop a commercial land remote sensing venture – Space America; and,
• File an application with the Federal Communications Commission for a low earth orbit communications satellite constellation – Globesat Express.

The Celestis Group of Melbourne, Florida was licensed in 1984 by OCST to fly a unique payload aboard SSI’s Conestoga vehicle – cremated human remains. While ultimately unable to conduct the launch, the Celestis Group proved that people all over the world sought memorial spaceflights for themselves and their loved ones.

In 1994, former SSI employees Charles M. Chafer and R. Chan Tysor founded a new company, Celestis, Inc., and announced an agreement with Orbital Sciences Corporation to launch cremated human remains as secondary payloads aboard Orbital’s Pegasus ™ and Taurus ™ launch vehicles.

Celestis Inc.’s Founders Flight (April, 1997) inaugurated the era of memorial spaceflights and included Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, 1960s icon Dr. Timothy Leary, and Princeton University physicist Dr. Gerard K. O’Neill among the twenty four pioneers aboard.

Ultimately, Celestis was able to accomplish five space missions, including – at NASA’s request – the launch of Dr. Eugene Shoemaker on a memorial flight to the moon.