UP Aerospace

UP Aerospace, Inc.

Type	Private
Industry	Aerospace
Founded	2005
Headquarters	Denver, Colorado
Key people	Jerry Larson, President
Website	Official website

UP Aerospace, Inc. is a private spaceflight corporation based out of Denver, Colorado. UP Aerospace provides ultra-low cost space access and payload transportation for corporate, military and educational payloads, via their SpaceLoft XL Sounding rocket launch vehicles.

History and Future Plans

Further information: UP Aerospace Launch History

The first launch of the SpaceLoft XL occurred on September 25, 2006 from Spaceport America in Upham, New Mexico. The vehicle failed to go higher than 40,000 ft due to a malfunction attributed to faulty fin design and unexpected aerodynamic effects.^{[citation needed]}

UP Aerospace vertical launch site at Spaceport America

UP Aerospace has conducted eight launches from Spaceport America during 2006-2009, including three in 2009 They plan to "double the number of customer launches from Spaceport America to six or more in 2010 as demand for the company's services increases."

SL-2 flight

On April 28, 2007, some of the cremated remains of actor James Doohan, who played Chief Engineer Scott on the 1960s television series Star Trek, and from astronaut Gordon Cooper, were rocketed into suborbital space (along with ashes of about 200 other people) by UP Aerospace from Spaceport America. This was the first successful launch from the site. The payload container was recovered 18 May 2007.

As of August 2007, UP Aerospace began offering low-cost launches to youth and students through the Space Generation Advisory Council. Under this arrangement members of the Space Generation can send their own experiments or novelty payloads into space for as low as US$2000 per experiment. From 2008, the Space Generation Advisory Council will host a range of competitions for youth to address specific technical or logistical challenges through the design of their own UP Aerospace TinySat module.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2008, UP Aerospace was hired by the large US aerospace company Lockheed Martin to provide launch services at Spaceport America for a test rocket program. Lockheed Martin stated that they are trying to create a lower-cost-to-orbit cargo service, using a winged vehicle launched atop a land-based rocket. UP Aerospace and the New Mexico location were chosen to aid in testing prototype systems. UP Aerospace was chosen, particularly, because of their experience launching rockets at Spaceport America.