Interview with Charles M. Chafer: Space Services Inc. of America and Celestis

Article

“Interview with Charles M. Chafer: Space Services Inc. of America and Celestis,” Interview by Emily Carney
Published in Quest Volume: 30 #4 (2023)

Abstract

Called a pioneer on the cutting edge of commercial space by Space News, he began his career in 1981 as part of the team, under the direction of retired Mercury astronaut, Deke Slayton, that launched the first privately funded rocket, the Conestoga 1, into space. The success of Conestoga 1 opened the previously government-only space frontier for commercial applications and established the legal/regulatory framework that governs space commerce today.

He led the team that drove the enactment of an Executive Order—signed by President Reagan—creating the first federal regulatory regime for commercial spaceflight, and subsequently, the 1984 Commercial Space Launch Act. In 1994, he co-founded Celestis, a firm still operating today, that provides memorial spaceflight services and, which to date, has conducted more than 14 spaceflights, placing more than1,200 individual‘s flight capsule into space including those of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and 1960s icon Timothy Leary.

Citation

Chafer, Charles M. “Interview with Charles M. Chafer: Space Services Inc. of America and Celestis.” Interview by Emily Carney. Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly 30, no. 4 (2023): 27-57.