Latest news with #Celestis
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Families Get Unpleasant Surprise After Trying to Shoot Their Loved Ones' Ashes Into Space
Hundreds of families shelled out to pay an out-of-this-world tribute to their lost loved ones — but tragically, their mortal remains ended up floating in the Pacific thanks to an error with the capsule they were riding in. As the Chicago Sun-Times reports, a capsule containing the ashes and DNA of some 166 departed souls was slated to orbit Earth for three hours this week before being splashing down safely into the Pacific Ocean and being returned to the families of the deceased loved ones. After orbiting Earth twice, the capsule operated by the so-called "space burial" company Celestis re-entered Earth's atmosphere normally, but failed to launch the parachutes that would have given it a softer landing in the ocean. As a result, the capsule impacted the water and, as Celestis CEO Charles Chafer noted in a statement to the Sun-Times, "[dispersed] its contents at sea." "As a result of this unforeseen event, we believe that we will not be able to recover or return the flight capsules aboard," Chafer continued. "We share in the disappointment of our families, and we offer our sincerest gratitude for their trust." One such family member, the son of the late Curtis Lau, had been very exhilarated by the prospect of sending his dad's ashes into space with Celestis, which has conducted similar memorial spaceflights for nearly 30 years. "It's obviously a unique thing we are able to do," 28-year-old Griffin Lau told the Sun-Times ahead of the launch earlier this week. "This was a wish for my father, so I also appreciate the ability to share his story and memorialize him." The elder Lau had been, as his son explained, a lifelong space enthusiast who would travel from his home in Wisconsin down to Cape Canaveral, Florida to watch rocket launches at the Kennedy Space Center. After he passed away last summer, his family decided to shell out nearly $3,500 to give his ashes a posthumous joyride in low-Earth orbit. In the aftermath of the "anomaly" that caused his dad's ashes to meet a watery grave, however, the son was less stoked. "It's a bummer," Lau said, "but admittedly, they take only a small part of the remains." More on space mishaps: Nobel Prize Winner Warns About Astronomers Using AI to Make Discoveries
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Human remains lost after memorial spaceflight capsule crashes into the sea
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A space capsule included on a recent SpaceX launch almost survived its decent back to Earth, so The Exploration Company is deeming their mission a "partial success". A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Transporter-14 rideshare mission June 23, sending 70 payloads from different customers into orbit. The satellites included cubesats and other spacecraft bound for low-Earth orbit, as well as two reentry capsule designed for recovery back on Earth. The first came from Varda Space — the company's fourth "Winnebago" series spacecraft designed to test first-of-its-kind on-orbit pharmaceutical manufacturing. Its mission is still underway. The second, Tranporter-14's largest payload and the last to be released, was European spacecraft manufacturer The Exploration Company's "Mission Possible" Nyx capsule, carrying remains contributed by loved ones through Celestis Memorial Spaceflights. Celestis offers various tiers of space memorial services that range all the way to launching remains into deep space. Their "Earth Rise" package includes launching DNA of customers' deceased loved ones (or even pets) into space and returning them to Earth. Unfortunately, their return this time around did not go as smoothly as planned. For their 25th launch, dubbed "The Perseverance Flight", Celestis paired with The Exploration Company's Mission Possible to carry its memorial payload to space and back aboard the Nyx capsule. At least that was the plan. Nyx performed nominally throughout its entire mission, all the way up until just minutes before its expected Pacific Ocean splashdown. "The capsule was launched successfully, powered the payloads nominally in-orbit, stabilized itself after separation with the launcher, re-entered and re-established communication after black out," the company wrote in an online update. For any spacecraft reentering through Earth's atmosphere, a period of communication blackout occurs as intense friction with surrounding air forms a layer of superheated plasma around a vessel's hull. Following the most intense stages of falling back from orbit, communications are typically reestablished during a ship's last stretch to landing. Nyx's return, up to that point, was no different — until it was. The Exploration Company's capsule encountered an anomaly shortly after reestablishing communications. "[Nyx] encountered an issue afterwards, based on our current best knowledge, and we lost communication a few minutes before splash down. We are still investigating the root causes and will share more information soon," the company said in their update. Nyx's parachute failed to deploy, according to a later statement form Celestis. "The parachute system failed, resulting in the Nyx capsule impacting the Pacific Ocean and dispersing its contents at sea," they said. In short, the capsule and its contents plummeted into the drink. "Though we currently believe that we cannot return the flight capsules, 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 said. The Exploration Company echoed that sentiment. "We apologize to all our clients who entrusted us with their payloads," their update reads. Mission Possible was The Exploration Company's second foray into space, and the first for its Nyx capsule, which they are designing with the intent of transporting crew and cargo to and from LEO and beyond. And they aren't letting the snag at the end of the endeavor slow them down. "We have been pushing boundaries in record time and cost. This partial success reflects both ambition and the inherent risks of innovation. Leveraging the technical milestones achieved yesterday and the lessons we will extract from our ongoing investigation, we will then prepare to re-fly as soon as possible," the company said.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
This Texas company has sent remains of sent 'Star Trek' actors, others to space
Since the dawn of humanity, we humans have found countless ways to honor our dead. From traditional burials to the scattering of one's ashes at sea, the methods for the deceased to be honored are as varied as the cultures that comprise our world. But what about those who prefer to be memorialized on a more cosmic scale? Well, it turns out they have that option, too. For about three decades, a company based in Texas has billed itself as the first and most prominent business to offer what's referred to as "space burials." Celestis, which recently conducted a mission from California, offers services that involve sending cremated remains or human DNA beyond Earth's atmosphere. Often, familiar faces and well-known public figures − from "Star Trek" cast members to U.S. presidents − have had their remains flown to orbit as part of a celestial burial or memorial. Many of Celestis' memorial spaceflights have launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Southern California. Here's what to know about Celestis and its memorial spaceflights. 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 from all over the world by other companies, including SpaceX and the United Launch Alliance. 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. Elysium Space, based in San Francisco, California, also offers memorial spaceflights. The company has conducted just three "space burial" missions since 2015, including from Hawaii, California and Florida, according to its website. 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 Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. 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 SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 rocket. The payload of memorial capsules was part of about 70 total payloads, including small satellites, that the Falcon 9 helped to deliver for paying customers to a sun-synchronous orbit, meaning they matched Earth's rotation around the sun. The launch 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's parachute failed and it crashed into the sea, losing the capsules. If you want to send your deceased loved one on a final cosmic journey, the cost to do so isn't that much different from the price of the average typical funeral or burial service. The cheapest option of sending memorial capsules to space and back, known as "Earth rise," starts at $3,495. The price to send a loved one's remains all the way up to orbit starts at $4,995. After that, though, the costs for Celestis' services start to climb. Both the company's lunar burial and interplanetary services start at $12,995, according to its website. The recent mission was Celestis' 25th overall since it was founded in 1994. The company's maiden voyage took place in April 1997, when a Pegasus rocket carrying the remains of 24 people, including "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, launched over the Spanish Canary Islands. The flight capsules on board a Celestis spacecraft then reentered Earth's atmosphere about a month later. Celestis' first and only successful lunar burial mission to date then occurred a year later in January 1998 from what was then still called the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Conducted at NASA's request, the mission included a capsule on board the agency's Lunar Prospector containing the ashes of geologist Eugene Shoemaker. Celestis has no more missions planned for 2025, according to its website. The next flight, planned for early 2026, appears to be an orbital mission launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida. Reservations are open until Aug. 1, 2025. 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 – once again – remains of Roddenberry, as well as science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. Elysium Space also contracted to have cremated human remains and DNA of clients placed aboard the lunar lander. 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. "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry and Arthur C. Clarke, best known for authoring "2001: A Space Odyssey" that inspired Stanley Kubrick's film of the same name, are not the only well-known people whose remains have flown to outer space on a Celestis mission. Among the notable names to have been included are several actors from the original "Star Trek" series and NASA astronauts. Here's a list Celestis provided to the USA TODAY Network: James Doohan, who portrayed Scotty in the original "Star Trek" series (remember the phrase, "Beam me up, Scotty"?) Nichelle Nichols, the first Black woman featured in a major television series who portrayed Nyota Uhura in "Star Trek" DeForest Kelley, who portrayed Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the original "Star Trek" series Three American presidents, George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, whose DNA in the form of hair samples was included on past flights Several NASA astronauts, including L. Gordon Cooper, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, and NASA's first Australian-American Astronaut, Philip K. Chapman Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cosmic burials? Company lets you send love one's remains to space
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
This company sends human remains to space for cosmic memorials. Many launch from Florida
Since the dawn of humanity, we humans have found countless ways to honor our dead. From traditional burials to the scattering of one's ashes at sea, the methods for the deceased to be honored are as varied as the cultures that comprise our world. But what about those who prefer to be memorialized on a more cosmic scale? Well, it turns out they have that option, too. For about three decades, a company based in Texas has billed itself as the first and most prominent business to offer what's referred to as "space burials." Celestis, which recently conducted a mission from California, offers services that involve sending cremated remains or human DNA beyond Earth's atmosphere. Often, familiar faces and well-known public figures − from "Star Trek" cast members to U.S. presidents − have had their remains flown to orbit as part of a celestial burial or memorial. Many of Celestis' memorial spaceflights have launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base and NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Here's what to know about Celestis and its memorial spaceflights. 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 and United Launch Alliance. 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 Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. 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 SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 rocket. The payload of memorial capsules was part of about 70 total payloads, including small satellites, that the Falcon 9 helped to deliver for paying customers to a sun-synchronous orbit, meaning they matched Earth's rotation around the sun. The launch 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's parachute failed and it crashed into the sea, losing the capsules. If you want to send your deceased loved one on a final cosmic journey, the cost to do so isn't that much different from the price of the average typical funeral or burial service. The cheapest option of sending memorial capsules to space and back, known as "Earth rise," starts at $3,495. The price to send a loved one's remains all the way up to orbit starts at $4,995. After that, though, the costs for Celestis' services start to climb. Both the company's lunar burial and interplanetary services start at $12,995, according to its website. The recent mission was Celestis' 25th overall since it was founded in 1994. The company's maiden voyage took place in April 1997, when a Pegasus rocket carrying the remains of 24 people, including "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, launched over the Spanish Canary Islands. The flight capsules on board a Celestis spacecraft then reentered Earth's atmosphere about a month later. Celestis' first and only successful lunar burial mission to date then occurred a year later in January 1998 from what was then still called the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Conducted at NASA's request, the mission included a capsule on board the agency's Lunar Prospector containing the ashes of geologist Eugene Shoemaker. Celestis has no more missions planned for 2025, according to its website. The next flight, planned for early 2026, appears to be an orbital mission launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base. Reservations are open until Aug. 1, 2025. 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 – once again – remains from 'Star Trek' creator Gene Roddenberry, as well as 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. Roddenberry and Clarke, best known for authoring "2001: A Space Odyssey" that inspired Stanley Kubrick's film of the same name, are not the only well-known people whose remains have flown to outer space on a Celestis mission. Among the notable names to have been included are several actors from the original "Star Trek" series and NASA astronauts. Here's a list Celestis provided to the USA TODAY Network: James Doohan, who portrayed Scotty in the original "Star Trek" series (remember the phrase, "Beam me up, Scotty"?) Nichelle Nichols, the first Black woman featured in a major television series who portrayed Nyota Uhura in "Star Trek" DeForest Kelley, who portrayed Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the original "Star Trek" series Three American presidents, George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, whose DNA in the form of hair samples was included on past flights Several NASA astronauts, including L. Gordon Cooper, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, and NASA's first Australian-American Astronaut, Philip K. Chapman Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on Florida Today: You can send a loved one's remains to space: Cosmic memorials, explained
USA Today
3 days ago
- Business
- USA Today
This Texas company has sent remains of sent 'Star Trek' actors, others to space
For about three decades, a company based in Texas has billed itself as the first and most prominent business to offer what's referred to as "space burials." Since the dawn of humanity, we humans have found countless ways to honor our dead. From traditional burials to the scattering of one's ashes at sea, the methods for the deceased to be honored are as varied as the cultures that comprise our world. But what about those who prefer to be memorialized on a more cosmic scale? Well, it turns out they have that option, too. For about three decades, a company based in Texas has billed itself as the first and most prominent business to offer what's referred to as "space burials." Celestis, which recently conducted a mission from California, offers services that involve sending cremated remains or human DNA beyond Earth's atmosphere. Often, familiar faces and well-known public figures − from "Star Trek" cast members to U.S. presidents − have had their remains flown to orbit as part of a celestial burial or memorial. Many of Celestis' memorial spaceflights have launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Southern California. Here's what to know about Celestis and its memorial spaceflights. What is Celestis? Houston, Texas, company takes human remains to space 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 from all over the world by other companies, including SpaceX and the United Launch Alliance. 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. What other companies offer 'space burials'? Elysium Space, based in San Francisco, California, also offers memorial spaceflights. The company has conducted just three "space burial" missions since 2015, including from Hawaii, California and Florida, according to its website. Celestis sent memorial capsules on a SpaceX rocket launch in California 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 Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. 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 SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 rocket. The payload of memorial capsules was part of about 70 total payloads, including small satellites, that the Falcon 9 helped to deliver for paying customers to a sun-synchronous orbit, meaning they matched Earth's rotation around the sun. The launch 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's parachute failed and it crashed into the sea, losing the capsules. How much does a Celestis flight cost? If you want to send your deceased loved one on a final cosmic journey, the cost to do so isn't that much different from the price of the average typical funeral or burial service. The cheapest option of sending memorial capsules to space and back, known as "Earth rise," starts at $3,495. The price to send a loved one's remains all the way up to orbit starts at $4,995. After that, though, the costs for Celestis' services start to climb. Both the company's lunar burial and interplanetary services start at $12,995, according to its website. How many memorial flights or cosmic memorials has Celestis conducted? The recent mission was Celestis' 25th overall since it was founded in 1994. The company's maiden voyage took place in April 1997, when a Pegasus rocket carrying the remains of 24 people, including "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, launched over the Spanish Canary Islands. The flight capsules on board a Celestis spacecraft then reentered Earth's atmosphere about a month later. Celestis' first and only successful lunar burial mission to date then occurred a year later in January 1998 from what was then still called the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Conducted at NASA's request, the mission included a capsule on board the agency's Lunar Prospector containing the ashes of geologist Eugene Shoemaker. When is the next Celestis memorial flight? Celestis has no more missions planned for 2025, according to its website. The next flight, planned for early 2026, appears to be an orbital mission launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida. Reservations are open until Aug. 1, 2025. Celestis previously sought to bring human remains to the moon 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 – once again – remains of Roddenberry, as well as science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. Elysium Space also contracted to have cremated human remains and DNA of clients placed aboard the lunar lander. 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. Who are some famous people whose remains have flown to orbit? "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry and Arthur C. Clarke, best known for authoring "2001: A Space Odyssey" that inspired Stanley Kubrick's film of the same name, are not the only well-known people whose remains have flown to outer space on a Celestis mission. Among the notable names to have been included are several actors from the original "Star Trek" series and NASA astronauts. Here's a list Celestis provided to the USA TODAY Network: Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@
