Space Services, Inc. of America (SSIA) is a space services company and holding company. The primary subsidiary company, Celestis is for space burials; other activities include operation of an unofficial 'star registry'.[1] Though today it buys secondary payload space on third-party commercial rockets such as Falcon 9, Taurus, and Spaceloft XL, in the 1980s the company conducted test flights of several in-house rockets.
In 1982, their Conestoga I rocket became the first privately funded rocket to reach space. In October 1995, their first (and only) attempt at an orbital launch, Conestoga 1620, failed to achieve orbit due to a guidance system failure[2] 46 seconds into its flight. The parent company, EER Systems, subsequently folded and the Conestoga program was cancelled.[3]