Celestis
Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Space burials |
Founded | 1994 |
Founders | Charles M. Chafer R. Chan Tysor |
Headquarters | , |
Parent | Space Services Inc. |
Website | celestis |
Celestis, Inc. is a company that launches cremated human remains into space, a procedure known as a space burial. It is a subsidiary of the private space company Space Services Inc.[1] The company purchases launches as a secondary payload on various launch vehicles, and launches samples of a person's cremated remains. Launching an individual's entire cremated remains (which weigh between four and eight pounds)[2] would be prohibitively expensive for most people, so Celestis launches small portions of 1-7 grams.[3]
History
[edit]Celestis has flown a number of notable participants over the years. Its first flight – The Founders Flight — carried cremated remains of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and 1960s icon Timothy Leary into Earth orbit. Also on board were remains of physicist and space visionary Gerard K. O'Neill, noted rocket scientist Krafft A. Ehricke, and 20 others.[4] Dr. Eugene Shoemaker — a famous planetary geologist and co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 – was launched to the Moon on NASA's Lunar Prospector mission in 1998: Celestis helped friends of Dr. Shoemaker include a sample of his cremated remains on that mission.[5] Mercury 7 astronaut L. Gordon Cooper,[6] Star Trek actor James Doohan ("Mr. Scott"),[7] and a host of others from various walks of life were launched on board The Legacy Flight in 2007.[8] Titanic explorer Ralph White was on board the Discovery[9] and Pioneer[10] flights.
Family members and friends of flight participants usually can attend the launch. Celestis usually arranges for a tour of the launch facility and hosts a non-sectarian memorial service prior to the launch.[3] Celestis also helps people prearrange their own memorial spaceflights for the future.[11]
Flights
[edit]Launch date / time (UTC) | Launch vehicle | Flight name | Orbit | Notable Individuals | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
21 April 1997, 11:59 | Pegasus-XL | Founders[12] | Earth orbit | Beauford Franklin, rocket scientist Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek creator Gerard O'Neill, physicist Krafft Ehricke, rocket scientist Timothy Leary, psychologist, writer |
Reached Earth orbit; Reentered atmosphere 20 May 2002 |
7 January 1998, 02:29 | Athena | Luna-01[12] | Lunar[broken anchor] | Eugene Merle Shoemaker, astronomer | Attached to Lunar Prospector Landed 31 July 1999 [13] |
10 December 1998, 13:20 | Taurus | Ad Astra[12] | Earth orbit | Reached Earth orbit; still on orbit | |
21 December 1999, 07:13 | Taurus | Millennial[12] | Earth orbit | Charles Oren Bennett, illustrator | Reached Earth orbit; still on orbit |
21 September 2001, 18:49 | Taurus | Odyssey[12] | Earth orbit | Failed to orbit | |
28 April 2007, 14:56 | SpaceLoft XL | Legacy | Earthrise (suborbital) | Gordon Cooper, astronaut James Doohan, Star Trek actor |
Reached space and returned to Earth, as planned |
3 August 2008, 03:34 | Falcon 1 | Explorers | Earth orbit | Gordon Cooper, astronaut James Doohan, Star Trek actor |
Failed to orbit[14] |
2 May 2009, 14:00 | SpaceLoft XL | Discovery | Earthrise (suborbital) | Ralph White, explorer[15] | Failed to reach space[16][17] |
4 May 2010, 12:41 | SpaceLoft XL | Pioneer | Earthrise (suborbital) | Ralph White, explorer[18] | Reached space and returned to Earth, as planned |
20 May 2011, 13:21 | SpaceLoft XL | Goddard | Earthrise (suborbital) | Reached space and returned to Earth, as planned | |
22 May 2012, 07:44 | Falcon 9 | New Frontier[19] | Earth orbit | Gordon Cooper, astronaut James Doohan, Star Trek actor |
Reached orbit, on a canister attached to the Falcon 9 launch vehicle's second stage.[20] Reentered Earth's atmosphere on 27 June 2012.[21] It carried the ashes of 308 people, 1-gram per person.[22] |
21 June 2013, 11:57 | SpaceLoft XL | Centennial[23] | Earthrise (suborbital) | Candy Johnson, entertainer | Reached space and returned to Earth, as planned |
23 October 2014, 13:33 | SpaceLoft XL | Conestoga[24] | Earthrise (suborbital) | CJ Twomey | Reached space and returned to Earth, as planned |
6 November 2015, 15:01 | SpaceLoft XL | Tribute[25] | Earthrise (suborbital) | Reached space and returned to Earth, as planned | |
17 September 2018, 14:09 | SpaceLoft XL | Starseeker[26] | Earthrise (suborbital) | Reached space and returned to Earth, as planned | |
25 June 2019, 06:30 | Falcon Heavy | Heritage[27] | Earth orbit | William Reid Pogue, astronaut [28] | Reached orbit successfully |
24 January 2023, 15:00 | Falcon 9 | Horizon[29] | Earth orbit | Reached orbit successfully | |
25 May 2022, 18:35 | Falcon 9 | Ascension[30] | Earth orbit | Reached orbit successfully | |
15 April 2023, 06:48 | Falcon 9 | Excelsior[31] | Earth orbit | Dave Barrett, journalist | Reached orbit successfully |
1 May 2023, 16:45 | SpaceLoft-XL | Aurora[32] | Earthrise (suborbital) | Philip K. Chapman, astronaut | Launch vehicle failure All the capsules containing the ashes were successfully recovered, and they are scheduled to be launched again in 2024 on the “Perseverance Flight”.[33] |
8 January 2024, 07:18 | Vulcan Centaur | Tranquility | Lunar landing | Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek creator Majel Barrett, Star Trek actress Mareta West, first female Astrogeologist Arthur C. Clarke,Science Fiction Writer |
Reached orbit successfully, failure of Peregrine Mission One shortly after orbit led to abandonment of Lunar landing. Returned to Earth.[34] |
8 January 2024, 07:18 | Vulcan Centaur | Enterprise | Heliocentric | Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek creator Majel Barrett, Star Trek actress James Doohan, Star Trek actor[35][36] DeForest Kelley, Star Trek actor George Washington, US president John F. Kennedy, US president Dwight D. Eisenhower, US president Ronald Reagan, US president[37][38] |
Reached orbit successfully |
References
[edit]- ^ "Launch ashes – Space burial – Space funeral – Cremation memorials". Celestis.com. 1 January 1995. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "Cremation Process". Cremationassociation.org. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
- ^ a b "Launch ashes – Space burial – Space funeral – Cremation memorials". Celestis.com. 1 January 1995. Archived from the original on 28 July 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "Celestis Memorial Spaceflights – The Founders Flight". Celestis.com. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "Launch ashes – Space burial – Space funeral – Cremation memorials". Celestis.com. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "Participants on board The Legacy Flight". Celestis.com. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "Participants on board The Legacy Flight". Celestis.com. 31 August 2004. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "The founders of Celestis bring you: Space Services Inc. – Memorial Spaceflights". Celestis.com. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "Participants on board The Discovery Flight". Celestis.com. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "Participants on board The Pioneer Flight". Celestis.com. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "Launch ashes – Space burial – Space funeral – Cremation memorials". Celestis.com. 1 January 1995. Archived from the original on 18 September 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "Launch manifest". Celestis.
- ^ "NO WATER ICE DETECTED FROM LUNAR PROSPECTOR IMPACT". NASA. 13 October 1999. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Bergin, Chris (2 August 2008). "SpaceX Falcon I fails during first stage flight". NASASpaceFlight.com.
- ^ "Ralph Bradshaw White". The Discovery Flight. Celestis. Retrieved 2 May 2009.
- ^ "Officials Praise NM Rocket Launch". KOAT. 2 May 2009. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2009.
- ^ "Rocket falls short of altitude goal at space port". KVIA.com. 2 May 2009. Archived from the original on 10 May 2009. Retrieved 2 May 2009.
- ^ "Celestis Memorial Spaceflights – The Pioneer Flight". Celestis.com. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "The New Frontier Memorial Spaceflight". Celestis. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
- ^ "Star Trek's "Scotty" finally launched into space". CBS News. New York. Associated Press. 22 May 2012. Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
- ^ "CELESTIS 11/FALCON 9 R/B". n2yo.com. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
- ^ Moskowitz, Clara (22 May 2012). "Ashes of Star Trek's 'Scotty' Ride Private Rocket Into Space". Space.com. New York. Archived from the original on 23 May 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
- ^ "Celestis Memorial Spaceflights – The Centennial Flight". Celestis.com. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
- ^ "Celestis Memorial Spaceflights – The Conestoga Flight". Celestis.com. Archived from the original on 27 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
- ^ "Tribute Flight | Celestis Memorial Spaceflights".
- ^ "Starseeker Flight | Celestis Memorial Spaceflights".
- ^ "Heritage Flight". Celestis. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ^ Mack, Eric (23 June 2019). "SpaceX Falcon Heavy to launch ashes of an all-star, astronaut and others". CNET. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
- ^ "Horizon Flight". Celestis. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- ^ "Ascension Flight". Celestis. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
- ^ "Excelsior Flight". Celestis. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- ^ "Aurora Flight". Celestis. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- ^
宇宙 葬 ・スペースメモリアル(Space Memorial) |日本 で最多 成功 実績 - ^ "US company's failed Peregrine Moon lander believed to have burned up after re-entry over Australia". ABC. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
- ^ "ULAが
新型 ロケット「ヴァルカン」初号 機 の打 ち上 げに成功 2号機 の打 ち上 げは数 か月 後 の予定 ". sorae (in Japanese). 11 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024. - ^ "The first Vulcan rocket will launch ashes of Star Trek actors, fans and more into space". space.com. 17 August 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
- ^ "PRESIDENTS WASHINGTON, EISENHOWER, AND KENNEDY TO FLY ABOARD CELESTIS' ENTERPRISE FLIGHT". Celestis. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
- ^ "From Hair to Eternity: locks of US presidents heading to space". PHYS ORG. 20 February 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2024.