Charles M. Chafer

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Biographical Information

"Charles M. Chafer, Chief Executive Officer of Space Services Holdings, Inc. (SSHI), is an internationally–recognized high tech and commercial space entrepreneur...In 1994 Chafer co-founded Celestis, Inc., and in 1995 successfully launched the first Celestis Memorial Spaceflight, garnering global attention as the Founders Flight sent a symbolic portion of the cremated remains of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, 60s icon Timothy Leary, and 22 other participants into Earth orbit aboard a Pegasus rocket. In 1999 NASA asked Chafer and the Celestis team to honor legendary astronomer Dr. Eugene Shoemaker by making him the first person “buried” on the moon. Celestis has conducted a dozen spaceflights to date, placing more than 1000 individual’s flight capsule into space, creating an early commercial space success story... He is the recipient of the Interactive Video Association innovation award in 1990, the 1996 National Space Society Pioneer Award for Space Business, and the 1997 Space Frontier Foundation “From Vision to Reality” award for his commercial space leadership."