Christopher Pancheri -or- Susan Schonfeld
713/522-7282 or 713/927-9002 845/364-5309 or 845/364-4000
WHO: Celestis, Inc., world’s only provider of post cremation memorial
spaceflight services.
WHEN: Friday, September 21st, 11:49 a.m. – 12:07 p.m. (Pacific)
WHERE: Live via web cast at www.Celestis.com
Vandenberg Air Force Base, Lompoc, California
Celestis, Inc. (Houston, Texas), announced today that the countdown has
begun for the “Odyssey Flight,” currently scheduled for launch September 21,
2001, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
Celestis is the company that pioneered post cremation spaceflight memorials
by launching a symbolic portion of the cremated remains of Star Trek creator
Gene Roddenberry and 60’s pop icon Timothy Leary into space, and has
recently provided its lunar services, in cooperation with NASA, to place Dr.
Eugene Shoemaker’s remains on the lunar surface, symbolically making Dr.
Shoemaker the first man from Earth to be buried on the Moon.
“Space remains the domain of the few, the dream of many,” said R. Chan
Tysor, president of Celestis, Inc. “With Celestis, the dream can finally be
realized…a final chance to become part of the universe, by being one with
the universe.”
The “Odyssey Flight” launch will bring those dreams of spaceflight into
reality as the capsules containing the cremains of Celestis participants
from countries around the world, including America, Austria, Canada,
Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom, are launched into space. Funeral
homes locally and internationally are offering the Celestis service to the
general public and are now beginning to take reservations.
Each Celestis capsule is inscribed with the deceased’s name and personal
message as a tribute to the fulfillment of each individual’s dreams of a
singular space journey, messages include: “With Our Love Go In Peace,” “Free
To Soar The Heavens,” “Me Vida Es Tuya,” “To Dwell Among The Stars,” “I Am
Where I Wish To Be,” “Ich Denke, Also Bin Ich,” “Our Love Is Set Free,” ”
Fulfillment Of A Dream XXO,” “One More Big Adventure,” “Inspire The Heavens
Bella.”
The “Odyssey Flight” will launch aboard an Orbital Sciences Corporation
Taurus rocket. In addition to the Celestis payload, this flight will include
ORBIMAGE’s OrbView-4, an earth sensing satellite to provide high-resolution
imagery from space, along with NASA’s QuikTOMs ozone monitoring satellite,
which will continue daily mapping of the global distribution of the Earth’s
total column of the atmospheric ozone.
For more information on Celestis, or Celestis “Odyssey Flight” Participants,
please contact 1-800-ORBIT-11 or visit the Celestis website at http://www.celestis.com.
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Celestis “Odyssey Flight” Satellite Coordinates for Live Feed.
DOMESTIC
Friday, September 21, 2001
11:49 a.m. – 12:07 p.m. (PACIFIC TIME)
Satellite: GE-2
KU-Band Analog
Orbital Position: 85 degrees West longitude
Transponder # 11
RX Frequency 11920.00 Mhz
RX polarity Vertical
Pre-Launch (TESTING)& Post-Launch Feeds
Friday, September 21, 2001
10:30 a.m. – 11:49 a.m. Pacific
12:07 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. Pacific
Satellite Information- Same as domestic information above.