SpaceX rideshare mission carried more than 160 capsules of human remains: Here's why
The remains of more than 160 deceased people reached orbit on a spacecraft that hitched a ride on a SpaceX rocket.
And it's not the first time that a company from Texas has worked with a launch provider like billionaire Elon Musk's commercial spaceflight company to provide cosmic memorial services to those who may not favor a traditional burial.
Since 1994, Celestis has offered about two-dozen memorial spaceflights to transport the remains of loved ones beyond Earth's atmosphere.
This time, though, the mission that got off the ground from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California was designed to return from orbit in a major first. While an "anomaly" prevented the spacecraft bearing the memorial capsules from making a gentle landing, the payload did indeed make it to orbit – and even twice circled Earth.
Here's what to know about Celestis' memorial spaceflights, as well as its latest mission to transport human remains to orbit.
California rocket launches: Here's a look at the upcoming SpaceX schedule from Vandenberg
Celestis is a company based in Houston, Texas specializing in transporting human remains to space for cosmic memorials.
Capsules containing DNA and human remains are included as payloads on spacecraft launched into orbit by other companies, including SpaceX.
Celestis' services allow for families to pay for cremated remains in capsules or DNA to be launched into space, where they can either return intact or remain until they reenter Earth's atmosphere, "harmlessly vaporizing like a shooting star in final tribute," the company says on its website. In another offering, the company facilitates the transportation of memorial capsules to interplanetary space well beyond the moon.
Celestis' most recent payload of memorial capsules was included in a SpaceX rideshare mission known as Transporter 14. The mission got off the ground Monday, June 23 from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.
SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 rocket then delivered 70 total payloads, including small satellites, for paying customers to a sun-synchronous orbit, meaning they matched Earth's rotation around the sun.
For its most recent mission, a total of 166 individual Celestis memorial capsules were on board a Nyx spacecraft manufactured by Europe-based The Exploration Company (TEC,) which hitched a ride on the Falcon 9.
Among those whose remains on board the flight was Wesley Melvin Dreyer, an aerospace engineer selected by NASA to be on the team that investigated the Challenger space shuttle disaster in 1986.
The launch, Celestis' 25th overall mission since it was founded in 1994, was meant to be Celestis' first-ever to return from an altitude high enough to be considered Earth's orbit.
The Nyx module reached low-Earth orbit, where it traveled for three hours at about 17,000 miles per hour and completed two full orbits around Earth.
But instead of safely reentering Earth's atmosphere to land in the Pacific Ocean as planned, the Nyx spacecraft experienced a parachute failure that resulted in it crashing into the sea. As a result, a team was unable to recover the capsules to return them to their families, Celestis co-founder and CEO Charles M. Chafer said in a statement.
"We believe that we will not be able to recover or return the flight capsules aboard. We share in the disappointment of our families, and we offer our sincerest gratitude for their trust," Chafer said in a statement provided to the USA TODAY Network. "We hope families will find some peace in knowing their loved ones were part of a historic journey, launched into space, orbited Earth, and are now resting in the vastness of the Pacific, akin to a traditional and honored sea scattering."
Celestis previously made headlines in January 2024 when its plans to land human remains on the moon's surface attracted some controversy.
The plan was for the remains and DNA of more than 70 deceased people to be included on a lunar lander bound for the moon. That included remains from 'Star Trek' creator Gene Roddenberry and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.
But Navajo Nation, the largest tribe of Native Americans in the United States vehemently opposed the lunar burial, penning a letter decrying the plans as "a profound desecration."
Ultimately, though, the remains never made it to the moon's surface anyway. Pittsburgh-based aerospace company Astrobotic's Peregrine lander fell short of its destination when it began leaking a "critical" amount of propellant – instead burning up in Earth's atmosphere after launch.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Company sends human remains to orbit for SpaceX launch from California
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