Received this morning:
Aleta, as she was known to all, passed away this morning in the Midland hospital ER. Aleta knew from the time she was twelve that she would build and fly spaceships. Her first professional work was as an engineering co op from Indiana Tech working on the Gemini program for McDonnell. Her engineering degree was cut short when she went home to nurse her mother back to health. After that, she joined the USAF as airman Jackson.
Aleta worked for Xerox for ten years as a repair technician and wrote both science fiction and non-fiction stories. She worked for the L-5 Society, both in Tucson and later in Washington DC. During her stay in DC, Aleta became an aide to General Daniel Graham and helped create the DC-X launch vehicle, later renamed the Clipper Graham. She also edited the Journal of Practical Applications of Space while with Graham’s Strategic Defense Initiative Organization.
As an indefatigable supporter of launch vehicle development, Aleta then became one of Rotary Rocket Company’s first employees, where she was general office manager. When the propulsion group was laid off from Rotary, Aleta was the person who told Jeff Greason, Dan DeLong, and Doug Jones that they had to stick with it, and founded XCOR Aerospace.
In the beginning, because the XCOR founders received no pay, Aleta took an additional job as a reporter/editor of the Mojave Desert News. Meanwhile, she was XCOR’s purchasing, personnel, bookkeeping, editorial, receiving, community outreach, and travel departments. As the company grew, she shed most of these tasks. In late 2015 she helped Jeff Greason start Agile Aero. Aleta was a personal as well as professional partner of Dan DeLong since the early days of Rotary, and they were officially married in 2016. The very next day, however, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and succumbed to complications of the chemotherapy regimen.
My deepest condolences to Dan, and her friends and family. She was a long-time friend and occasional colleague, and no one I know fought harder for our future in space.
[Monday-morning update]
I’ve added what Dan tells me was one of her favorite pictures of herself.
[Monday-afternoon update]
I encourage people to read all of the kind and understandably heartbroken comments, but this one from Dan is important for those who knew her:
Thanks all for the kind words. In order to allow time for those traveling, and to get around the holidays, the memorial service will be Sunday, Jan 15 at the Christian Church of Midland at 2608 Neely Ave. Thanks again, Dan.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it, but I’ll try.
[Monday-evening update]
Henry Vanderbilt remembers Aleta’s akita, Rufo.
I do as well, because thanks to Rufo’s and Henry’s generosity, I once shared a hotel room with them at the Space Access Conference (despite my allergy to dogs, but I survived, and he was a great dog. And I’ve done that more than once, even after the passing of Rufo, despite the fact that I snore, for which I’m grateful to Henry, and will always regret any loss of sleep on his part).
[Late-evening update]
Via Clark Lindey, here is the local news reporting:
Greason, who is now the founder of upstart Midland-headquartered Agile Aero, said DeLong’s role in XCOR was invaluable in helping ideas become reality but that she always stayed in the background.
“During the time before I came to know her in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the idea of commercial or reusable space vehicles was a lonely idea to be a champion of,” he said. “She was one of a very small number of people running around and keeping that idea alive. She was never somebody who put her name on the front door, but wherever you turned … you’d find her as the person keeping the community together.”
Yes. I feel like Aleta was always there, and there is a big hole in my life that she no longer is.
[Update late evening]
Here’s a guestbook via legacy.com (not sure how official this is, but it’s via NASAWatch, and Keith apparently cannot bring himself to link to this website, despite the numerous encomia here, and its current numero-uno ranking on Google for Aleta’s name).
I am incredibly saddened to learn of this. Every interaction I had with her was one of great joy and mutual passion for space. I respected her immensely and hope I can carry on her legacy.
Well, I’d say you have a good start at it, Molly.
We have lost a bold and determined lady of the space age.
This is heartbreaking news.
I worked with Aleta at XCOR where, in addition to everything listed above, she also served as the first screen and final approval for new hires. She took on the mantle of cultural gatekeeper – looking for employees with the drive to get into space but also the humility to work well together. The result was a dedicated, tight knit group of space junkies that, even when working late into the night, often felt more like a family then a corporation.
Aleta was at the heart of that group. She was generous, kind, devoted — and tough as nails when anything threatened our team. She hired me in for my first job in the industry, and I will always be grateful for her help at the start.
She will be missed dearly. My sincere condolences to Dan and all her friends throughout the world.
Oh, this is terrible news.
I was acquainted with Aleta for many years before we teamed up at Rotary Rocket and XCOR. I exasperated her sometimes, but always liked her and I’m sad we’ve lost her. Ad Astra, Aleta.
I am in shock! Loved Aleta! She was always up to give a talk about women in aviation or help with a tour of space fans when she was here in Mojave. She was one of my first Veterans Day speakers back in 1995, as she was an Air Force Veteran. Prayers for Dan, for Aleta’s family and her many dear friends. Rest in Peace Aleta.
This is terrible. A great lady. My deepest sympathies to Dan and her family.
Man, 2016 continues to suck.
That’s a shame. RIP, Aleta.
I am so saddened to read this. Aleta was like the mother of the company at XCOR. My thoughts are with Dan and her family.
I agree with Doug but I think it went the other way, I exasperated her sometimes. The lesson in life is if you have a falling out with friends, don’t wait too long to make up. She will be missed.
Yes, we both exasperated her. I have to confess to deliberately winding her up sometimes, but for you, Rich, I think it came naturally 🙂
I knew Aleta long ago in Tucson, AZ; I used to work with her at L5 Society headquarters. She was a special friend and mentor to me, and I am heartbroken to hear of her passing. Ad Astra, my friend.
Aleta was one of my dearest friends and an admired coworker for many years. I will treasure every precious memory. T
A sad day, indeed.
She never, ever gave up.
Without her tenacity, there would be no XCOR.
And hence no ultra long life rocket propulsion systems.
She was a model and an inspiration to us all.
I sat in front of Aleta. Behind us, there was a poster of the EZ-Rocket doing a relight at Oshkosh, with the caption, “Never Give Up. Never Surrender.”
One afternoon, I had completely beaten my brains out trying to knock some common sense into some government agency. I pictured the rest of my week looking like that, contemplated suicide, and instead turned around and told Aleta, “I can’t do this any more.”
She didn’t even look up. Just poked her thumb over her shoulder at that poster. Never Give Up. Never Surrender. Unsaid, no words needed, was, “You wouldn’t be here if you couldn’t do it. You can do it. Did you think it would be easy, changing the world?”
May her spirit live on in the young engineers she inspired and gave a chance. I count myself lucky to be one of them.
My condolences to Dan and all of her friends and family. Aleta will definitely be missed. In her memory, The Space Show programs for the week of Dec.5, 2016 will be dedicated to her and her efforts for space. Aleta, we will miss you.
David Livingston
The Space Show
Aleta was my soul sister since we met in 1973. The world is a poorer place without her.
I knew this was coming, but did not think it would be so soon.
I’ve known Aleta since the mid-1980s online (BIX), and probably 1987 in real life. Other than people I met at school, she’s probably one of the friends I’ve treasured the longest.
Aleta introduced me to the whole alt-space universe… first to Tim Kyger, then to Henry Vanderbilt, and thence to Jeff Greason, Dan DeLong, and Doug Jones. So it’s safe to say that — for good, bad, and ugly — XCOR Aerospace would not have existed in its current incarnation without her. She and the rest of the team spent sixteen years trying to put a dent in the Universe. Space is hard, and the space business is harder, but no one WORKED harder than Aleta. And no one else did so much to inspire the next generation of creators at XCOR, and to maintain a culture of reaching for the stars even when tied to mundane concerns by a thousand threads.
With no disrespect to the other founders and the team members who joined later, Aleta was always the “soul” of XCOR for me. A light went out when she left the building for the last time a year ago. The logo was the same, but it was a different company, and not a better one.
I know she, Dan, and Jeff hoped to capture some of that lightning in a bottle for a second time with Agile Aero. That story remains to unfold, and I am optimistic that we will build something Aleta would be proud of. To paraphrase one of her favorite authors: we can’t ever pay her back, but we can always pay it forward. I hope we can make her proud of us.
I’ll end with a quote from that same author, a quote that Aleta embodied and demonstrated every day of her life:
“I am proud to be a human being. I believe that we have come this far by the skin of our teeth, that we always make it just by the skin of our teeth — but that we will always make it … survive … endure. I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching, oversize brain case and the opposable thumb, this animal barely up from the apes, will endure — will endure longer than his home planet, will spread out to the other planets, to the stars, and beyond, carrying with him his honesty, his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage — and his noble essential decency. This I believe with all my heart.”
Dammit, Aleta, I wish I had picked up the phone rather than emailing you last week. I’ll miss you.
This is a very sad day. Aleta was an inspiration to all of us.
Deepest condolences, especially, to Dan.
Yes, she’ll be missed.
I’ve known Aleta since the late ’70s, between our mutual connection from SF Fandom and the SCA. She was instrumental in my becoming the Computer Data Manager for the L5 Society.
Aleta will always be in my fondest memories.
Aleta was one of the first people I met in the movement that would become “New Space.”
She never gave up, and we shouldn’t either. People like her remind of us of how important this mission is.
Ad Astra, Aleta.
Joe Pistritto (XCOR Investor and sometime board member)
I knew Aleta from her days with High Frontier. She persuaded me to join XCOR and leave the fetid Washington swamp, and it was a fantastic experience. Aleta was a good friend, and a formidable person to have in your corner. She had the code of honor and toughness of the Samurai, whom she greatly respected. She was smart, tough, and creative. This news comes as a shock to me and it saddens me. May God grant her the freedom to visit the many stars and planets in heaven she worked so hard to reach.
And my deep condolences to Dan DeLong.
Aleta sent this fanboy a couple of Rotary Rocket t-shirts back in the day. She was a nice person and I am shocked and saddened at the news. Godspeed, Aleta.
I knew Aleta in the Society for Creative Anachronism (where the name “Aleta” came from) in Tucson in the late ’70s. She was my SCA mentor and a good friend. Even though I have not been active in SCA for more than 30 years, I still have a scroll hanging in my hall that she made for my Order of the Laurel. It is a work of art and is so very Aleta. Though we’d not kept in touch in recent years, I will dearly miss her. (Signed with my SCA name.)
I met Aleta when Rotary Rocket had their Mojave facilities in Dan’s hanger. We had an issue with a vendor. Dan said let Aleta know. She took care of my problems from then until she left XCOR.
I should also mention that Loretta Jackson to me was Mistress Aleta Ara of Helsgaard.
Officially, Baroness Mistress Aleta Ara of Helsgard, called The Cruel. And she fought hard to get the “called” dropped. 🙂
I first knew Aleta online just over thirty-one years ago, first met her thirty years ago last January, and first worked with her at L5 in Tucson thirty years ago last March.
I quickly came to know both her radiant smile when she was sharing something she loved and her flat gunslinger stare when someone needed to stop screwing around and get with the program. I’ve lived at her house, read her books, babysat her cats, adopted her dog, met her Mom and Dad, rescued her once, and been shanghaied by her twice – both times to my vast benefit.
And I drifted largely out of touch after leaving Mojave, and now I blinked and she’s gone. Too soon, far too soon.
My deepest condolences to all who were close to her.
RIP Aleta, You were an awesome person to work with
I first knew Aleta though the L5 Society. I’d been working on a project for her but we’d never met. The first time I met Aleta in person, she gave me a kiss. The last time I saw her, she was carrying a rocket engine on her shoulder.
My kinda gal.
The space business will miss her.
I knew her from all the way back in time when I started Pittsburgh L5. She’s always been in the middle of our world.
I so adored Aleta. This is such a shock. And my heart goes out to Dan Delong. I am so sorry, Dan, though I am glad you two wed.
This is very sad news! Anna and I are sending our deepest sympathies to Dan, and others. Aleta was helping me every day to get settled as I started to work at Xcor.
She would come back into the machine shop and talk to RJ, Jose and I. Her dad was a machinist, and she said she loved the smell of the place, it brought back many memories to her. She was very nice to me and my sons RJ and Michael. She will be missed. Truly this is a great loss to so many.
So sorry to hear this. I considered Aleta a friend from the Tucson L-5 days onward. She helped me with Art Shows at LepreCon and CopperCon. While we dropped off each other’s radar, I will miss her. ( The last time I saw her was at the Roton roll-out) Sincere condolences to Dan and all her friends and family
This is incredibly sad. Condolences to all those close to Aleta. She was amazing, I have nothing but the fondest of memories of her from my time at XCOR.
The World is little less bright with losing you Aleta.
Condolences to all who knew Aleta.
I met her near the end of my connection to L5 Society, when we realized it was going to be much harder than we thought. Aleta never gave up. I dropped out for many years, but am back now. http://www.htyp.org/DTC
Totally dedicated to the mission. Every time I went to XCOR to conduct business or set up a tour she was my go to person and always made things happen. RIP.
I knew Aleta from when she hired me as an intern at XCOR. She was the one who picked up the phone, and she warmly/gruffly/wonderfully invited me down to check the place out. She also convinced me not to quit when there was a period at XCOR where I was having a really rough time.
I still have a copy she and Dan gave me of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. It’s only a small symbol of the tiny acts of generosity she always gave to the people around her. I will cherish it and my memory of her forever.
When we were first getting oriented there, Aleta gave us a tour of this tiny workshop out in the Mojave. At one point she says, “This is the bathroom. If your pee isn’t clear, you’re going to die of dehydration.” It made sense, being the desert and all. I instantly fell in love with the place and her way of being.
I am so sorry for Dan. My thoughts are with you.
Really sad news to receive. My sincere condolences to her family and to all those who knew her.
Aleta was an absolute inspiration. She was one of the warmest, most down to Earth people I’ve ever met and yet she did such amazing things. I got to know her about five or six years ago and right from the start she treated me like a warm friend. I was always in awe of her strength and courage. She left a mark on everything and everyone she touched.
Thanks for the adventure, Aleta!
You won’t be forgotten.
Nooooooo!!!!
I’ve known Aleta online since I suppose late 1986 or 1987 on BIX. As an infrequent visitor to the USA, I didn’t meet Aleta very often in person, but each time was memorable A couple of times attending Henry\s Space Access conferences, a week with the XCOR crew and the EZ-Rocket at Oshkosh in 2002, and a week with the XCOR crew in June 2004.
2004 was a great illustration of Aleta’s friendliness and generosity. I’d just a month earlier started a new job at Metservice in Wellington when Scaled announced the date of the first X-Prize attempt, about a week in advance. I immediately emailed Aleta saying I was thinking of popping over, and where should I stay? She said great, no problems. So I booked tickets across the Pacific and then told my boss I *was* going to take a week off. Joe P picked me up at LAX at we arrived at the XCOR hangar mid afternoon. I slept that night (along with dozens of others) in the hangar. I was lucky enough to get a spot on actual carpet under Rich’s desk. At oh-dark-hundred next morning I helped Aleta cook bacon and eggs for the assembled masses, before we all went outside to watch White Knight and SS1 take off at dawn. After that, I hung out the rest of the week at XCOR trying not to get in the way, and maybe do something useful. Aleta was generous enough to loan me her shiny new car one afternoon so I could go in search of a glider flight — I found one in an ASK21 at Cal City, and did a short cross country flight to overfly Mojave.
Some of the former BIXen assembled in the XCOR hangar:
http://www.hoult.org/bruce/MojaveJune2004/MojaveJune2004-Images/2.jpg
Goodbye Aleta, and thanks for everything.
Like so many other people, Aleta changed my life when she waltzed in the door of my post production company in 1996. She needed an animation for Rotary Rocket, we bonded over Anime, Sci Fi and Renfaire stuff. She called be back again in 2001 and said, “We’re building a rocket powered airplane” and “We need your help. We can’t pay you yet.” Say no more. I spent the next 14 years in Mojave with the gang and as close friends with Aleta. I will miss her dearly. Only a few days ago she was emailing me with an insistence of making it to write ‘2021’ on a check. She never gave up.
This is so heartbreaking. I remember my first day working for XCOR and she got me all set up with the SWAG I needed to do my job, to help spread the XCOR story. She gave me a set of my favorite XCOR luggage tags, which I still have today for all my company travels. It was always great to see her after coming off the road, she always made sure I had everything I needed. This is a huge loss to our space community, may you rest in peace. Thank you for inspiring me and helping me all of my needs!
I hate this. I remember her posts on this forum. I feel like I’ve lost a friend I never met.
Godspeed and good journey Aleta.
I met the team at Oshkosh and Aleta was the one who had both time and knowledge for everyone. She leads us now to escape velocity.
Like many here, I first met Aleta on-line in the mid-1980s quickly followed with IRL meetings and decades of friendship. In one of my darkest moments she provided light and solid advice for which I am forever grateful. Earth isn’t as lively a place without her, but the skies have gained a new star. Ad Astra.
Ah, crud. What awful news. The world is a darker place without her.
Deepest condolences to Dan.
I first met Aleta, along with Dan, about 20 years ago at a Space Access conference. Though I saw her only infrequently (the last time was at XCOR in 2014), she always made this ‘brit’ feel like I was part of the newspace community and I feel privileged to have met her.
Godspeed, Aleta.
This is tragic news.
I got to know Aleta back in the 1980s through the L5 Society. Her contributions to that group and her friendliness made a huge impression on me as they did on so many people. Over the years I always was glad when I even saw a posting of hers here. That’s not counting all the other contributions she made that I saw second hand.
Our species is far better off for her contributions than so many other people I can think of.
Aleta, Ad Astra!
Thanks all for the kind words. In order to allow time for those traveling, and to get around the holidays, the memorial service will be Sunday, Jan 15 at the Christian Church of Midland at 2608 Neely Ave. Thanks again, Dan.
I never personally met Aleta. I first noted though her Passion in the earliest days of XCOR. Over the years she kept popping up in news releases and articles marking their progress. I thought now there’s a person to be inspired by, tenaciously driving forward with her Passion for Space. I had hoped to meet her some day. My condolences to Dan, her family and friends for your loss. See you in Stars Aleta…