Spaceport Charlestown: Project Comet Chase 1999

One of the strangest secrets of Rhode Island is that it actually was the site of a rocket launch.  On November 18th, 1999, Project Comet Chase was launched from Ninigret Park, in Charlestown, in an attempt to intercept the dust trail of Comet Tempel-Tuttle.  The rocket was a Loki/Viper, provided by and launched under the auspices of NASA.  The bottom part, the Loki, was intended for the upper, Viper, section to be sent high enough for it to collect comet dust.

At its launch, over 5,000 people, included 3,800 local school children, watched as this first rocket ever to be launched from this area was sent up, in hopes that it would return with its intended dust. 

As the Frosty Drew Observatory was the closest building to the launch site – there is still a boulder with a plaque on it to commemorate this event in Ninigret Park just a few hundred feet from the Nature Center/Observatory – there were programs concerning comets and the intended mission at the facility. 

Unfortunately, the final chapter of this mission didn’t come to very positive results.  The lower stage, the Loki, was retrieved by a local fisherman, and it is on display in the Frosty Drew Sky Theatre.  Although it has been painted to try to preserve its surface, pits and scratches from its voyage can still be seen on it.  The major section, however, is probably lost forever.  It was supposed to be reclaimed by a Coast Guard ship that, at the precise moment it was to be sent to the landing site, was instead diverted to an emergency call by a stranded boater.  Fortunately, although the Viper wasn’t retrieved, and is still “lost at sea,” the payload’s area was built to be water tight and vacuum sealed; therefore, if it is ever located, there is a very good chance the comet dust it collected could possibly still be intact.