So SpaceX just successfully launched their Falcon 9 rocket into space. Apparently the rocket had some stowaways on it in the name of ashes of some of our dearly departed. One of the celebrities is the world famous James “Scotty” Doohan of Star Trek fame. The iconic Scotty died on July 20, 2005 at the age of 85 in his home in Redmond, Washington. One of his final wishes was that his ashes be spread in space.

If you have the money, Celestis, a space services company, will send your loved one’s ashes up to orbit Earth. They tried to send Scotty’s ashes up on a rocket from SpaceX in 2006 but the rocket failed and the ashes, and millions of dollars in satellites, never made it into orbit. So they tried again, this time the ashes were put into the second stage rocket and it made it into space.

The 308 souls that launched on the rocket to space cost the people about a total of $1 million. Celestis’ prices vary. A suborbital flight with a return to Earth starts at $1,000, the launch into Earth orbit is $3,000, and a trip to the Moon costs almost $10,000. If you really want to go where no man has gone before, a flight into deep space will run you almost $13,000.

photo courtesy of memory-alpha