Arthur Blessitt is taking his religious sojourn to a higher plane. Last year, the Florida man walked into the Guinness Book of World Records after shouldering a huge redwood cross on a 30-year pilgrimage through 282 countries. In November, a small replica of Blessitt's burden will be one of nearly two dozen payloads launched into Earth orbit from Russia aboard a decommissioned SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile. A cross whittled from a four-inch chunk of Blessitt's will ride to space in a 2.2-pound box called a CubeSat. One Stop Satellite Solutions of Ogden, Utah, began selling the tiny spacecraft packages last November, promising to "make satellites affordable to the masses." After launching several small satellites atop a converted U.S. Minuteman missile (the Minotaur) in January 2000, One Stop Satellite Solutions recently partnered with Thiokol Corp.
展开▼
