Ashes of 330 prominent people sent to space

Remains of more than 300 prominent people, including George Washington and the cast of Star Trek, will be released deep into space on January 8.

This arduous journey would be undertaken by Texas-based company Celestis Inc, whose two-stage Vulcan Centaur rocket is scheduled to launch at 2.18 am, eastern timezone, making it the first time that a commercial company would release the mortal remains on the Moon and beyond.

The ashes are stored in 1/4- and 1/2-inch long titanium capsules, of which 62 of them would be dropped on the Moon, while the rest 268 would be deposited into deep space.

After dropping off some of the capsules on the Moon, the spaceship will then take the remaining 268 capsules over 185 million miles into deep space, where they will “orbit the sun forever,” Celestis CEO and Co-founder Charles Chafer said, according to New Yor Post.

“I’ve had a lot of firsts in my career, but this will be the first commercial deep space mission ever done – and hopefully it will be the first of many, many more over the next few centuries,” Chafer was quoted as saying.

Among the remains that would be sent to space include three former US presidents—Washington, John F Kennedy, and Dwight D Eisenhower. According to reports, an anonymous donor had contributed to the DNA samples of these personalities.

Also, partial remains of late “Star Trek” cast members Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), James Doohan (Scotty), and DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy) would also be on board.

However, this service doesn't come free of cost. A person wanting to send the ashes of their loved ones deep into space needs to shell out $13,000. Whereas less permanent send-offs such as suborbital flights — which come back to Earth and are returned to the participants’ families — run nearly $3,000, and to orbit around Earth costs almost $5,000.

(With inputs from agencies)