A rocket packed with cargo is set to blast off into space from a desert launch range in New Mexico, ushering in what its backers say is a new era of cheap public access to the stars, Reuters reported. UP Aerospace plans to launch SpaceLoft XL rocket into space early on Monday from Spaceport America, a remote desert launch site a few miles from the town of Truth or Consequences in New Mexico. The telephone pole-sized rocket will hurl around 50 items of payload including a Ziploc bag of Cheerios, some cremated remains and several high school science projects, into a brief suborbital flight 70 miles (110 km) above the earth. The rocket is not the first privately funded bid to reach for the stars. Two years ago, SpaceShipOne brushed the edge of space with a man on board, scooping up a $10 million prize in the process for its backers. But Connecticut-based UP Aerospace says the brief 13-minute flight, scheduled for soon after dawn, will inaugurate a new era that puts space within reach of large numbers of paying customers. Chief executive Eric Knight said clients can buy payload space starting at a few hundred dollars for the small items weighing a few grams, rising to "many tens of thousands of dollars" for larger pieces of cargo. "It's the first time the public has had direct access to space in this way," Knight told Reuters by telephone as he conducted a run through at the launch site.