The #1 source for news about monkeys and apes

[John Aboud <jathree AT panix.com>]

From: <chris AT encounter2001.com>
To: press AT modernhumorist.com
Subject: SPACE CHIMPS ADVENTURING IN SPACE AGAIN
Date: Wed, Nov 14, 2001, 9:08 PM


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(B-Roll video of spacecraft, solar sail, and space chimps available)

Christopher Pancheri
713/522-7282 or 713/927-9002
-or-
Susan Schonfeld
845/364-5309 or 845/364-4000

SPACE CHIMPS ADVENTURING IN SPACE AGAIN

WHEN:           Monday, November 19, 2001
             10:00 a.m. (CST)

WHERE: Primarily Primates, San Antonio, Texas

Team Encounter announced today, that a unique group of Space Chimps will
adventure into space again. These chimps, some of 37
former U.S. Air Force chimpanzee’s (or their descendants)  that served the
United States space program, are housed at Primarily
Primates (San Antonio, Texas).

Historically, space chimps have pioneered the U.S. trail into space. Ham
(launched January 31, 1961, on a suborbital flight), paved the way
for Alan Shepherd’s historic flight on May 5, 1961. Enos (launched November
29, 1961, on an orbital flight), set the stage for John Glenn’s
flight around the world on February 20, 1962.

In honor of these space chimps, Team Encounter has teamed up with 20th
Century Fox, to take the "Science Fiction of Planet of the
Apes, to the Science Reality of a real space mission."

Pierre Boulle’s classic Monkey Planet, the basis for 20th Century Fox’s,
Planet of the Apes, included space chimps traveling on an solar
sail-powered interstellar spacecraft. Now, Team Encounter and 20th Century
Fox, Planet of the Apes, will honor the Primarily Primates
space chimps as "Space Ambassadors" by pioneering a new form of space
travel - a Solar Sail mission to the stars.

Representatives from Team Encounter and 20th Century Fox, Planet of The
Apes, will be taking DNA samples and images of selected
Space Chimps, for placement on the Team Encounter solar sail spacecraft for
launch into Deep Space. This marks the first time additional
species from Earth will be represented on board the Team Encounter
spacecraft. Team Encounter is now developing participation kits for
all of Earth’s species, with a percentage of proceeds going to support
Primarily Primates.

Primarily Primates is the oldest and largest primate rehabilitation center
and sactuary in the U.S., and allows more than 800 animals to live
healthy, normal lives. Eastablished in 1978, PPI houses animals from
research institutions, zoos, the entertainment industry and private
homes on their 75-acre property. Simply stated, Primarily Primates, Inc.,
is the most experienced primate rehabilitation center in the United
States.

"Team Encounter and 20th Century Fox are proud to support PPI’s work in
providing humane care for the space chimps (and their
decendants) who had the right stuff  years ago," said Charles Chafer,
president of Team Encounter. "Space chimps both in fact, through
involvement with the United States space program, and in fiction, as
depicted in Planet of the Apes, blazed the trail into space for
humanity, often at a great cost to their well-being. Now, through their
hair samples and archival forms, PPI ’s space chimps will symbolically
and non-invasively blaze the trail to other stars."

Team Encounter, a project of Encounter 2001, LLC (Houston, Texas) is now
building a state-of-the-art solar sail to power the Team
Encounter spacecraft beyond the solar system.  When fully deployed (at
almost 1.2 acres), the Team Encounter solar sail will be visible in
the night sky with the naked eye for approximately 2 hours, and will be the
largest structure ever deployed in space. This solar sail will
propel the Team Encounter spacecraft into deep space at approximately
67,000 miles per hour (four times the speed of the Space
Shuttle).

"As the solar sail unfurls in space, people throughout the world will log
onto TeamEncounter.com, and other participating web sites to view
via live broadcast (Internet and TV), a spectacle on par with the 1997
landing of the Mars pathfinder," said Chafer. "The solar sail
technology provides a low cost alternative to conventional propulsion
approaches, opens a new opportunity to develop missions outside
the solar system, and enables a variety of new technologies allowing the
exploration of the universe."

Team Encounter is offering visitors the opportunity to participate in this
historic space mission. By logging onto TeamEncounter.com,
people can obtain the materials to participate, allowing them to submit
their photos, messages, and biological "signatures" (in the form of
micro-hair samples), for placement on-board the spacecraft. The Team
Encounter spacecraft will carry this payload, like a "cosmic
message in a bottle," out of the solar system as an "archive of humanity"
for whomever or whatever might discover the spacecraft in the
years to come.

Team Encounter believes that this mission shows that with the emergence of
global cooperation, even amidst international unrest,
countries can peacefully join together in offering this unprecedented
opportunity to everyone.

For more information on Team Encounter visit www.TeamEncounter.com, or call
1-800-ORBIT-11.

###
-------
Team Encounter And Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Join Forces With Primarily Primates To Celebrate The Retired U.S. Air Force
Chimpanzees With A Unique Space Mission

Following The Ceremony, The Chimps Will Be Treated To The
Worldwide DVD Premiere Of Planet Of The Apes
-------
Satellite Coordinates - November 19, 2001

1st Feed:
13:30 - 14:00 Eastern
Telstar 5
Transponder 24
KU Satellite

2nd Feed:
16:00 - 16:30 Eastern
Telstar 4
Transponder 6
C-Band