NM Rocket fails to reach space

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (KRQE) - Rocket scientists at New Mexico's Spaceport are trying to figure out what went wrong on Saturday, when a rocket carrying experiments from students failed to reach outer space.

Instead the rocket crashed in the desert near Truth or Consequences, N.M.

It had all the promise of a problem free blastoff. As planned, the motor shut down a little more than 10 seconds into the flight.

Around then, images show that the ship gyrated and there may have been debris.

Soon after, word came that the rocket did not reach space. Instead it crashed just four miles away.

"And that's about all we know at this point, until we recover the black boxes and get the data from the White Sands Missile Range radar," Jerry Larson with Up Aerospace said.

Early suspicions for the malfunction include a failure of a part of the rocket or its motor, or perhaps a sudden shift in balance.

Each of the student experiment canisters had to be carefully balanced with counterweights because high speed rockets are exposed to enormous forces.

If something came loose in flight, it could upset the delicate balance.

Student experiments weren't the only objects onboard; the flight also carried the ashes of over a dozen people.

For a fee, a company called Celestis will assist with the launch of ashes into space.

As for the crash, investigators will study the wreckage and data to try to prevent a reoccurrence.

Groundbreaking for a massive new hangar and runway complex at the spaceport is scheduled for June.

Tourists could be rocketing into space from New Mexico as early as late next year.