funerals – Techdirt (original) (raw)

Stories filed under: "funerals"

DailyDirt: Beyond The Door, There's Peace I'm Sure…

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

We’ve mentioned some interesting ways to rest in peace before — turning your body into diamonds or sending your ashes into orbit. It may be a bit morbid, but some space fans really want to get off this planet even after they’ve died. If you want to leave this world (after death), you can get a ticket on more than one kind of spacecraft headed off beyond the Earth.

• A startup called Elysium Space will launch your ashes into space — and even get cremated remains to the moon. The first 50 buyers will get an early bird price of 9,950togotothemoon,andafterthat,it’llsetyouback9,950 to go to the moon, and after that, it’ll set you back 9,950togotothemoon,andafterthat,it’llsetyouback11,950. Just burning up in orbit (aka the Shooting Star option) costs just $1,990. [url]
• The ashes of Clyde Tombaugh, the guy who discovered Pluto, are flying out of our solar system into deep space. Tombaugh’s remains (just an ounce) were packed on NASA’s New Horizons probe to investigate Pluto, along with a few other trinkets. That spacecraft is coasting beyond Pluto now, making Tombaugh the human body that’s traveled the farthest. [url]
• The ashes of Gene Roddenberry and his wife — as well as Arthur C. Clarke and James Doohan — were planned to be put into deep space, too. However, the Sunjammer mission was cancelled, so their ride on a solar sail spacecraft might have to wait. Celestis, the company behind this space memorial, has sent some of these ashes into space before, so it’ll probably try again on another mission (or if Sunjammer is revived). [url]

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Filed Under: arthur c. clarke, ashes, clyde tombaugh, funerals, gene roddenberry, james doohan, memorials, new horizons, pluto, solar sail, space, spacecraft, sunjammer
Companies: celestis, elysium