How do you bury something in a vacuum?

From the Gifts For People Who Have Everything Dept: Send your remains into outer space.

Celestis Inc, a Houston-based firm that in 1997 arranged the launch of 1960s pop icon Timothy Leary's remains, is planning an April send-off in Russia for as many as 150 ash-filled capsules as part of the cargo on a Kosmos 1 satellite.

The containers, filled with customers' choices of 1 or 7 grams of remains, will share space with data transmission equipment and will orbit the Earth for as long as 156 years before re-entering the atmosphere as a shooting star. Costs ranges from $995 to $5,300, depending on the capsule size.

Can't make the April launch? Reservations are being taken for later flights.

[...]

For $12,500, Celestis offers moon "burials", in which capsules are carried on lunar mission spacecraft. In 1998, the NASA Lunar Prospector transported a portion of the remains of scientist and comet discoverer Dr. Eugene Shoemaker in its strut, which disintegrated upon landing.

All those years, when Ralph said "To the moon, Alice!", who knew he was giving instructions for his burial?

Posted by Charles Kuffner on December 19, 2003 to Society and cultcha | TrackBack