NASA Sending Human Remains of Famous People To The Moon On Jan 8th

This is crazy! And gross.

Space.com
January 4, 2024

United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic are about to make history.

On Jan. 8, a ULA rocket will send Astrobiotic's Peregrine lander toward the moon. If it lands successfully, Peregrine will become the first private lander ever to reach the lunar surface. The mission will also mark the debut of ULA's new Vulcan Centaur rocket.

Riding on Peregrine are a wide variety of scientific instruments developed by NASA that will pave the way for future lunar exploration as part of the agency's Artemis program. But also tucked away on the mission's manifest are sets of human DNA and remains, which are going up on memorial spaceflights offered by two different companies, Celestis and Elysium Space. Celestis will send one of its memorial payloads off into the final frontier of deep space on its Enterprise mission, while its Tranquility payload will ride to the moon on the Peregrine lander. Elysium Space will also place its own payload on the moon with Peregrine.

USA Today
January 6, 2024

Two private companies, Celestis and Elysium, have also hitched a ride aboard the lunar lander for the cremated human remains and DNA of its customers destined for a cosmic burial. Among them are notable names that include “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.

Another 265 people will be represented on the rocket’s upper stage, which will circle the sun once separated from the lander. They include three original “Star Trek” cast members, as well as strands of hair from three U.S. presidents: George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, the Associated Press has reported.

The U.S.' renewed interest in lunar missions means that the company can begin offering grieving families with at least $12,995 to spare the opportunity to send their loved ones to the moon, where their cremated remains are interred in flight capsules permanently encased in lunar landers.

Celestis' payload, called Tranquility Flight, includes 66 memorial capsules bound for the lunar surface as "a permanent tribute to the intrepid souls who never stopped reaching for the stars," according to