Space burial

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Taurus Missile launch (time exposure)

Space burial is a burial procedure in which a small sample of the cremated ashes of the deceased are placed in a capsule the size of a tube of lipstick and are launched into space using a rocket. As of 2004, samples of about 150 people have been "buried" in space.^{[citation needed]} The concept of shooting human remains into space using existing rockets was first proposed by Richard DeGroot in a Seattle Times newspaper article on April 3, 1977.

Technical and economical aspects

The effort and cost of launching an object into space is very high. Furthermore, the cost is directly related to the payload, i.e. the mass of the object. Therefore various measures are taken to reduce the mass of the burial, which usually include:

• The corpse is cremated, reducing the mass of the remains to about 5% of the initial mass (a few kilograms).
• Only a small sample of the ashes is included, typically only 1 g or 7 g. The remainder of the ashes can be buried conventionally in the earth or in the sea.

Other measures to reduce cost include:

• No rockets are specifically launched for this purpose; the samples of the remains are just part of the payload.
• Multiple remains are buried with the same rocket, although usually the remains are in separate capsules.

The capsules are kept together in a flight container, e.g. attached to the upper stage engine of the rocket, to avoid additional "space debris".

The second factor greatly influencing the cost includes the target location of the payload. Most burials do not actually leave the gravitational field of the earth but only achieve an orbit around earth. The capsules containing the samples of the remains circle the earth, until the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere have slowed down the capsules, and they reenter the atmosphere. The capsules burn up upon reentry similar to a shooting star, and the ashes are scattered in the atmosphere. The time between launch and reentry depends on the orbit of the satellite, and can vary widely. The first burial reentered after only 5 years, but other burials are not expected to reenter in less than 250 years.

NASA’s Lunar Prospector space probe carried the remains of Dr. Eugene Shoemaker

There are a number of alternative options if a reentry into the earth atmosphere is not desired. All of them are more complex and expensive than a burial in earth orbit. If an object leaves the gravitational field of the earth, it enters the gravitational field of another body in space. The closest object near the earth for that purpose is the moon. Although the moon is technically also in the gravitational field of the earth, it will not hit the earth within any human timeframe^{[citation needed]}. A service is available for space burial on the moon. As of 2005^[update], the only person buried this way is Dr. Eugene Shoemaker, (April 28, 1928 - July 18, 1997), best known for co-discovering the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

If the moon is still too close, it is possible to launch the remains into outer space, although this is the most costly space burial currently available. In January 2006, a small portion of the cremated remains of Clyde Tombaugh, (February 4, 1906 - January 17, 1997) who was best known for the discovery of Pluto, were sent on the New Horizons, a Robotic NASA Spacecraft similar to Voyager which will past Pluto, and beyond into interstellar space [1].

History

The concept of launching remains into space using conventional rockets was first proposed by Richard DeGroot in a Seattle Times newspaper article on April 3, 1977.^[1], The practice of space burials began at the end of the 20th century as the technical difficulties and costs involved in launching an object into space previously made it unfeasible. The first space burial Earthview 01: The Founders Flight was launched on April 21, 1997. An aircraft carried a modified Pegasus rocket containing samples of the remains of 24 people to an altitude of 11 km (38,000 ft) above the Canary Islands. The rocket then carried the remains on an elliptical orbit with an apogee of 578 km (361 miles) and a perigee of 551 km (344 miles), rotating around earth once every 96 minutes until reentry on May 20, 2002, northeast of Australia. Famous people buried on this flight were Gene Roddenberry and Timothy Leary.

The second space burial was the burial of a sample of the remains of Dr. Eugene Shoemaker on the moon by the Lunar Prospector probe, launched on January 7, 1999 by a three-stage Athena rocket. The probe containing scientific instruments and the ashes of Dr. Shoemaker impacted the moon near the lunar south pole on 4:52 a.m. Central Daylight Time, July 31, 1999.

The list of space burials to date:

• April 21, 1997: 24 remains samples launched into earth orbit on a modified Pegasus rocket
• January 7, 1998: Sample of the remains of Eugene Shoemaker as secondary payload on a three-stage Athena rocket to the moon
• February 10, 1998: 30 remains samples as a secondary payload launched into earth orbit on a Taurus rocket
• December 20, 1999: 36 remains samples as a secondary payload launched into earth orbit on a Taurus rocket
• September 21, 2001: 43 remains samples as a secondary payload failed to be launched into earth orbit on a Taurus rocket
• January 19, 2006: Sample of the remains of Clyde Tombaugh on the New Horizons spacecraft launched by a Atlas V rocket to Pluto
• August 3, 2008: 208 remains samples flown as a secondary payload lost in the failure of a Falcon 1 rocket.^[2]

Outlook

Currently, only one company, Space Services Inc., offers space burials. Space Services took over the assets of Celestis, Inc., which launched four flights from 1997 to 2001. As science progresses it is expected that the cost and difficulties of space burials will be reduced, and other companies may enter the market.

As of 2006, only cremated remains have been buried.

Religious aspects

At least one service for burial in space was planned. As part of the contingency plans for the Apollo 11 mission, if the astronauts were unable to return from the lunar landing, a funeral service would be held for them on Earth, similar to the service for burial at sea, with references to the ocean omitted and replaced with "the deepest of the deep." (See In Event of Moon Disaster)

It should be noted, though, that most religions do not provide special instructions for space burial due to the procedure being only a recent development, and only around 150 people have been buried in space so far. As only a small portion of the remains are buried, a regular funeral and burial ceremony can be performed according to the beliefs of the deceased, and only a small part of the remains are diverted into space. Due to the infrequency of the flights, the sample of the remains have to be stored until the next launch. Also, not all religions allow the bodies of deceased to be cremated, as is often done in space burial.

Famous people buried in space

Launched to Earth orbit on April 21, 1997

• Gene Roddenberry (August 19, 1921 - October 24, 1991), creator of Star Trek.
• Gerard O'Neill (1927-1992) space physicist.
• Krafft Ehricke, (1917-1984) rocket scientist.
• Timothy Leary, (October 22, 1920 - May 31, 1996), American writer, psychologist, and drug campaigner.

Buried on the moon on July 31, 1999

• Dr. Eugene Shoemaker, (April 28, 1928 - July 18, 1997), Astronomer and co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

Launched to Earth orbit on December 20, 1999

• Charles Oren Bennett (January 21, 1928-1999), space illustrator

Launched in outer Space on January 19, 2006

• Clyde Tombaugh (February 4, 1906 - January 17, 1997), American astronomer and discoverer of Pluto in 1930.

Launched sub-orbitally and recovered on April 28, 2007

• James Doohan, (March 3, 1920 – July 20, 2005) actor, best known for his portrayal of Scotty in the television and movie series Star Trek^[3]
• Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper, Jr. (March 6, 1927 - October 4, 2004), an American astronaut. He was one of the original Mercury Seven pilots in the Project Mercury program, the first manned space effort by the United States.^[3]

Animal remains in space

A number of animals have died in space; see Animals in space. Not clear is whether there are still animal remains in space. Though there have been requests^{[citation needed]}, no pets have yet been buried in space.

References

External links

• Space Services, Inc.
• SpaceX space exploration technologies
• Space Service's Memorial Spaceflights
• L.F.C. Spacecylinder systems
• The Ultimate One-Way Ticket, Wired Magazine February 21, 2006
• Death Is a Long, Strange Trip, Wired Magazine November 7, 2006