14 DAY TRIAL // The Moon has became over the years the final resting place for a series of man-made objects such as robotic landers, disabled satellites and many other spacecrafts and debris. Albeit it can also became your final resting place for the price of only 10,000 US dollars. The provider of the unique services is a company pioneering the sending of cremated remains of human into suborbital space with its own rockets. Celestis Inc. is now trying to extend its services to scattering cremated remains on the surface of the Moon.
Celestis Inc. officials say that they might start launching rockets carrying the remains of people to the Moon as soon as next year. The president of Celestis Inc., Charles Chafer reveals that the company has just signed a contract with the Odyssey Moon Ltd. and Astrobotic Technology, which states that the two companies are to put robotic lunar landers on the Moon's surface, carrying attached capsules with cremated remains.
Both Odyssey Moon and Astrobotic are amongst the few private companies now trying to develop spacecrafts capable of landing on the lunar surface. Once the landers reach the Moon, they will remain there along with the capsules they are carrying.
According to Chafer, the first mission, scheduled for the end of 2009, is expected to carry up to 1,000 capsules filled with ashes, and another 5,000 during the next missions. In the last decade or so, Celestis has sent the ashes of a couple of hundred people, from 14 countries, into Earth's orbit. Among the famous people whose ashes are on the Moon we can mention Gordon Cooper, astronaut, and James Doohan, actor in the original 'Star Trek' series, who played the character Scotty.
"The moon is a special place. For many people, it would be a romantic notion to look up into the sky and see the moon and know that your mom or dad or loved one is up there memorialized," said Chafer.