Want to Send Your Ashes to the Moon? It May Be Possible Someday

Since 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin ferried Apollo 11, the first manned spacecraft to successfully land on the moon, people all over the globe have dreamed about setting foot on our celestial neighbor’s surface one day. But, sadly, more than 50 years after that first moon landing, that dream is still far from our reach. NASA has not completed a manned lunar landing since 1972, and the next manned lunar flight isn’t scheduled until 2024. But now, thanks to a partnership between NASA, Houston-based Celestis Inc. and Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic, someday it may be possible to send your ashes to the moon.

Celestis, a pioneer in the realm of memorial spaceflights, has been transporting human ashes into space for over two decades. Its clients include Star Trek writer Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek actress and producer Majel Barrett Roddenberry, astronaut L. Gordon Cooper, and Mareta West, the nation’s first woman astrogeologist, who was responsible for selecting the site for the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. And while most of the company’s flights launch ashes directly into space, in 1998 it carried the ashes of lunar scientist Eugene Shoemaker to the moon. That first successful moon landing, dubbed Luna 1, will soon be followed by Luna 2, which will, if all goes well, transport the ashes of “2001: A Space Odyssey” author Arthur C. Clarke to the moon in July 2021. 

Memorial spaceflights are increasing popular among those seeking a unique way to memorialize their lives.
Credit:Kevin Gill via Wikimedia Commons

The Celestis capsule containing Clarke’s ashes will travel aboard Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lander, a robotic spacecraft that will collect data and soil samples from the moon’s surface. The information gathered will help NASA plan future lunar missions as part of its broader Artemis program, which is slated to send the first woman and the next man to the moon in 2024 and complete the first manned mission to Mars by the end of the decade. 

Meanwhile, Celestis will continue to offer a selection of memorial spaceflights to consumers who are interested in sending their ashes into space, either for a short trip or a longer orbit around the earth. The company has several launches scheduled for 2021 and 2022.