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Ashes of Gene Roddenberry to be Sent into Space, Never to Return

By Queuebot in Movies & SciFi on Jan 27, 2009 at 8:46 pm


A company called Celestis, Inc. offers 'memorial space flights' where you can have your remains shot via rocket into the depths of space, never to return.  That's exactly what Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, and his wife have decided to do with their ashes.  Roddenberry died in 1991, and his wife in December of last year.

They will blast off sometime next year.

The couple's cremated remains will be sealed into specially made capsules designed to withstand the rigors of space travel. A rocket-launched spacecraft will carry the capsules, along with digitized tributes from fans. The Roddenberrys' remains — and the spacecraft — will travel ever deeper into space and will not return to earth, company spokeswoman Susan Schonfeld said.

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From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by lir.


 
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  1. Edward
    Jan 27th, 2009 at 8:46 pm

    As I understand it, only a small portion of your ashes go into space.

  2. cuimhne
    Jan 27th, 2009 at 8:55 pm

    I thought they already sent part of him to space?

  3. Alex
    Jan 27th, 2009 at 9:00 pm

    Doesn't this add to the problem of space debris?

  4. lir
    Jan 27th, 2009 at 9:24 pm

    Well, the company claims to be sending the rocket far, far away and not to orbit the Earth, so unless it hits an alien spaceship it shouldn't bother us or be space debris around our planet...

  5. Kathy
    Jan 27th, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    Couldn't they have done something useful with that money?

  6. Johnny Cat
    Jan 27th, 2009 at 11:10 pm

    It's an apt gesture for a guy who inspired us to (try to) settle our petty differences and go into space. Hopefully his dream will someday be fulfilled.

  7. LisaL
    Jan 28th, 2009 at 12:24 am

    I think it's very fitting.

  8. planettom
    Jan 28th, 2009 at 6:27 am

    The question is, can they really do it? No private company has ever sent a probe out of Earth orbit before; any other "ashes into space" things you've read about have been suborbital flights; the ashes have gone up, and come back down....

    Sometimes a lot sooner than intended (several attempts with James Doohan's ashes).

  9. sw
    Jan 28th, 2009 at 11:17 am

    swell, more space trash

  10. silverbullitt
    Jan 28th, 2009 at 2:58 pm

    @ cuimhne
    i was under the assumption they had done this at least ten years ago . it was in a book or magazine i read a long time ago

    either way its deja vu , and i like it

  11. Scooter
    Jan 29th, 2009 at 4:06 pm

    I didn't know his wife was dead too... Aww. So sad.

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