More of the “Star Trek” family will get the chance to boldly go where no one has gone before.
This week the Texas-headquartered space burial company Celestis announced that their upcoming Enterprise Flight would be adding more esteemed “Star Trek” franchise names to their memorial rocket mission.
Representing a pair of respected behind-the-scenes luminaries, the flight now includes Greg Jein, a veteran model maker and VFX guru who created many models seen in the “Star Trek” series, and “Star Trek” pioneer and associated producer/director Robert H. Justman, the person recognized as Gene Rodenberry’s “right hand man” who helped land Sir Patrick Stewart as Jean Luc Picard for “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”Â
Celestis (opens in new tab) delivers respectful “memorial spaceflight services” for anyone who wishes to salute and honor the life of family members, loved ones and friends with a majestic off-Earth experience.Â
Related: Nichelle Nichols of ‘Star Trek’ to boldly go on unique memorial spaceflight in 2022
Back in August they announced that the cremated remains of the late Nichelle Nichols, known for her portrayal of “Star Trek’s” Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, would be aboard Celestis’ first-ever deep space voyage. Then in September, Celestis added another notable Enterprise crewman to the epic journey with the inclusion of DNA samples for DeForest Kelly, the man who so perfectly played Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy for three decades on TV and on the big screen.
Slipping the gravitational bonds of Earth early next year, the Enterprise Flight will blast off in early 2023 using United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket carrying additional cremated remains and DNA samples of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, his wife Majel Barrett Roddenberry, “Star Trek” engineer James “Scotty” Doohan, and “2001: A Space Odyssey” VFX wizard Douglas Trumbull.
The Enterprise Flight’s trajectory will send the spacecraft roughly 93 million miles to 186 million miles (150 million to 300 million kilometers) into deep space beyond our familiar Earth-moon system. Celestis’ memorial mission intends on launching over 200 space burial flight capsules comprised of cremated ash remains, special messages, mementos and DNA samples from a range of international customers headed towards the great mystery of interplanetary space.Â
However, this special memorial trip is not the primary objective of the Vulcan’s voyage, as it seeks to deliver Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine lunar lander to the moon’s surface.
Following that primary endeavor, Vulcan’s Centaur upper stage will continue into the inky void of outer space and into a solar orbit where it shall become the remote outpost, Enterprise Station. Also on board the 2023 flight will be the initial two prototype satellites for Amazon’s internet constellation named Project Kuiper.
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