All About Estates

Fire in the Sky – Post Cremation Memorial Spaceflights

In today’s modern society some individuals are looking for unique alternatives to traditional burial practices. 

Space burials are offered by a company called Celestis, an affiliate company of Space Services Inc. 

A deceased individual can venture into space as part of a real space mission, alongside a commercial or scientific satellite and send a small capsule of their cremated remains into orbit, onto the lunar surface or deep into space.  Alternatively, an individual’s cremated remains can be sent on a mission into space and be returned to Earth.   The cost is anywhere from $700.00 to $12,500.00.

As an individual’s cremated remains weigh approximately 4 to 8 pounds.  It is too expensive to send an individual’s entire cremated remains into space so to make the service more affordable the company purchases launches as a secondary payload on various rockets and launches 1 to 7 grams of an individual’s cremated remains. 

There are still some traditional elements to a space burial. Family members and friends of the deceased can attend the launch and an on-site memorial service. They can also participate in an on-line memorial. Depending on the services chosen by the deceased or their family, the deceased’s name and a message can also be inscribed on a plaque in the aircraft. 

Lesson Learned: Adventure does not have to stop when one passes away.  If an individual is looking for a unique alternative to traditional burial practices they can venture into space after death and join the late Gene Roddenberry, creator of “Star Trek”, actor James Doohan, Star Trek’s “Scotty”, Mercury astronaut L. Gordon Cooper Jr., eccentric author Timothy Leary, Titanic explorer Ralph White and others.

Join us next week for “Souls of the Sea”.

Until next time

Jasmine Sweatman

About Jasmine Sweatman