‘Star Trek’ Creator’s Ashes to Be Sent Into Deep Space (original) (raw)
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry is going where no man has gone before.
Part of his cremated remains will be sent into deep space, along with remains of his wife, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who appeared on Star Trek the Next Generation as Lwaxana Troi and voiced the computer on multiple Trek series.
Remains of James Doohan (_Trek_’s Scotty) and pioneering sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke will also be sent into orbit on a memorial flight from the Houston-based Celestis, reports NBC News.
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The company, which has been putting remains into orbit for 16 years, will launch its Summerjammer Solar Sail Mission from Cape Cod in November 2014. This will be the first to enter into deep space, and the craft will orbit the sun between Earth and Venus.
Remains from Roddenberry and Doohan have been sent into space on previous Celestis flights. Summerjammer will be launched with an experimental solar sail from NASA, which it hopes will propel the craft with photons from the sun.
Clarke, who in 1999 gave the company the strand of his hair that is to be included on the flight, quipped upon the donation: “I’d give you more, but I don’t have anything to spare.”
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