VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - A clutch of tiny capsules was launched into orbit early Tuesday EST aboard a Taurus rocket, ferrying into space portions of the Earthly remains of 36 people for a flight that could span all of the next millennium.
The launch aboard the Orbital Sciences Corp. rocket is the third and largest for Houston-based Celestis Inc., which gained renown in 1997 for sending aloft part of the cremated remains of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and counterculture legend Timothy Leary.
Tuesdays launch, piggybacked with a primary payload consisting of satellites built by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and NASA, will jettison the 2-pound (1.2-kilogram) canister containing the capsules into low-Earth orbit.
Christopher Pancheri, a Celestis spokesman, said the canister could remain in orbit for anywhere from 100 to 1,000 years before re-entering and burning up in the atmosphere.
Each capsule contains just 0.245 ounces (7 grams) of cremated remains and bears a personalized message.
"Be Among the Stars You Liked," reads one. "Have a Great Flight, Dad," is another.
Families pay about $5,000 for the privilege of sending their loved ones into orbit.
Many of the deceased shared a deep interest in space, said Chan Tysor, Celestis president.
"This is a way of symbolically fulfilling their dream of space flight," Tysor said.
Ruby Coddington said before her son, Brian, died of muscular dystrophy in January 1998, he exacted a promise that a portion of his remains would be sent into orbit.
"Being that he was sent to us from heaven, its only fitting hes going to go back up that way," Coddington said Monday.
The 23-year-old Barstow, Calif. man was a devoted Star Trek fan whose cousin is NASA astronaut Donald McMonagle, his mother said.
Among the 35 other people whose remains are included in the flight are those of a dozen Japanese citizens. Tysor said his companys services seem popular with residents of the island nation, where cremation - a requirement for participation - is far more common than it is in the United States.
advertisement
