| 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 intospace, a procedure known as aspace burial. It is asubsidiary of the private space companySpace Services Inc.[1] The company purchases launches as asecondary payload on variouslaunch 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]
Celestis has flown a number of notable participants over the years. Its first flight –The Founders Flight — carried cremated remains ofStar Trek creatorGene Roddenberry and 1960s iconTimothy Leary intoEarth orbit. Also on board were remains of physicist and space visionaryGerard K. O'Neill, noted rocket scientistKrafft 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'sLunar Prospector mission in 1998: Celestis helped friends of Dr. Shoemaker include a sample of his cremated remains on that mission.[5] Mercury 7 astronautL. Gordon Cooper,[6]Star Trek actorJames Doohan ("Mr. Scott"),[7] and a host of others from various walks of life were launched on boardThe Legacy Flight in 2007.[8]Titanic explorer Ralph White was on board theDiscovery[9] andPioneer[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]
| 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 orbit | Eugene Merle Shoemaker, astronomer | Attached toLunar 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 ofPeregrine 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 |
| 16 August 2024, 18:56 | Falcon 9 | Harmony | Earth orbit | Philip K. Chapman, astronaut Michael Lampton, astronaut[39] | Reached orbit successfully |
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