At the end of February, SpaceX‘s Falcon 1 rocket will make its maiden voyage with some 125 civilian passengers.
But the rocket won’t be carrying astronauts–instead, it’ll convey the cremated remains of people from a half-dozen countries. While the rocket’s main payload will be a naval communications satellite for the U.S. Department of Defense, SpaceX has granted payload space for canisters of these ashes to tag along for the ride.
“If you had to check off where you wanted your ashes to go…space would be the coolest option,” said Elon Musk, the Internet entrepreneur who started SpaceX after founding PayPal and selling it to Ebay. Musk started SpaceX in hopes of one day transporting passengers into outer space. Before that can happen, the company’s business will center on using its rockets to transport military and commercial satellites.
With the successful launch of Paul Allen and Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipOne this year, interest in human space travel is rekindling. Once the domain of defense contractors, the military and NASA, outer space is now opening up to private investors with dreams of exploration and the drive to turn concepts from science-fiction novels into reality.
British entrepreneur Richard Branson has already signed an agreement to license the design of SpaceShipOne to one day send a few high-paying customers into the outer atmosphere. Organizers of the Ansari X Prize for a reusable space vehicle, which was won by SpaceShipOne, are expected to launch more contests to foster a commercial space industry.
Houston-based Space Services is the company offering the chance to send ashes into the earth’s orbit. At a cost of between $995 and $5,300, depending on weight, Space Services will store ashes into the aluminum canisters that will travel in rocket payloads.
