SpaceX's Falcon Heavy To Send Cremated Remains Of 152 Individuals To Space

As part of SpaceX’s STP-2 mission, the Falcon Heavy rocket will be carrying the cremated remains of 152 dead individuals. The remains were placed in capsules that will be released in Earth orbit.

The one-of-a-kind send-off was organized by the company Celestis through its Memorial Spaceflights service. For this service, the company purchases available rooms in spacecraft that have upcoming launches.

Celestis’ next memorial service will be held through SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy spacecraft. It will feature the remains of 152 deceased individuals, which the company refers to as participants.

According to the company’s profile page, the participants came from different walks of life. Although many of them are scientists, some of the participants had different backgrounds such as a former toy designer, skydiver and a U.S. Marine.

The capsules containing the cremated remains will be launched through the Orbital Test Bed satellite, which is one of the payloads aboard the Falcon Heavy. The satellite containing the capsules will then be launched into space once the Falcon Heavy reaches its orbital goal.

According to Celestis’ website, the Memorial Spaceflight’s pricing varies depending on the type of service. Sending remains to Earth’s orbit costs $4,995. Sending the remains to the Moon or deep space, on the other hand, costs $12,500.

This is not the first time that Celestis sent the remains of its participants in space. The company has been in operation since 1994 and was able to successfully carry out its first Memorial Spaceflight in 1997.

Probably one of the most famous individuals the company catered to was James Doohan, the “Star Trek” actor known for playing the role of Montgomery “Scotty” Scott.

Celestis’ launch with SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy will take place at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rocket is scheduled to launch sometime between June 24 at 11:30 pm EDT to June 25 at 3:30 am EDT.

Aside from the remains of the participants, the Falcon Heavy will also carry other payloads for the STP-2 mission. These include 25 small spacecraft from the U.S. military and other research institutions, the Deep Space Atomic Clock and the sola-powered spacecraft LightSail.