Roddenberrys’ ashes bound for space
January 28, 2022
By Chris Forrester
In an homage to the late Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry, some of his ashes, along with a similar capsule contain the remains of his wife, actress Majel Barrett Roddenberry, will be launched into space on an upcoming United Launch Alliance (ULA) rocket.
The flight, dubbed Celestis/The Enterprise Flight, will be aboard the debut flight of an ULA Vulcan Centaur rocket. The mission will carry around 150 other sets of cremated remains, DNA samples and messages from Star Trek fans as a tribute to the Roddenberrys.
This is not the first time that Gene Roddenberry’s ashes have been launched into space. Back in 1997 a similar mission carried a Roddenberry capsule along with ashes of space visionary Gerald O’Neill and LSD guru Timothy Leary. Then, in 2006 another mission carried a capsule of ashes containing the remains of James Doohan, known to Star Trek fans as Engineer Scotty. There were a reported 175 other capsules of remains on that flight with fees of between $1000 and $5300 charged to place between 1 gram and 3 grams of remains per capsule.