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New Places To Spend Eternity
Orbiting in Outer Space
SpaceX launched 152 cremated remains on a Falcon Heavy rocket. The “Funeral Flights” were arranged by Celestis, offering spaces for $5000 for one gram of “participant” ashes. (1) (The average person’s cremains weigh roughly five pounds or over 2250 grams.) Other options include launch to space and return to earth for future burial, being launched into earth’s orbit, being launched to lunar orbit or surface, or becoming a voyager and be launched into deep space. These individuals, or at least a gram of them in some cases, will spend eternity in the void of space. As this option becomes more available, we have to wonder how long it will be until we have the opportunity to be buried on the moon or farther?
Unfortunately, I’m going to have to burst your bubble if you hoped to be the first person buried on the moon.
That honor belongs to Eugene Shoemaker, who is still the only person buried on the moon. The late scientist who died in a car crash in 1997 is still the only person whose remains have been sent to the moon. Shoemaker’s name is most recognizable from the famed Comet, Shoemaker-Levy 9, which hit Jupiter in 1994. The comet, which Shoemaker dis- covered with his wife Carolyn and David Levy, was remarkable because it marked the first time humans…
