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Beam My Ashes Up!

Find out how Star Trek legend James Doohan's ashes were secretly smuggled up to the International Space Station.

By Caymen Greener Sat 09 Jan, 2021 12:13 PM
Have you ever wanted to go into space? Duh, of course you have. Does it matter if you've already passed away? Well, according to an interview with entrepreneur Richard Garriott, who made his way into space via private trip, the family of 'Scotty' could not be happier that he made his way to the Internaitonal Space Station (ISS) posthumously.Richard%20Garriott
Richard Garriott


Garriott is no stranger to the field of space flight. His father, Owen Garriott, was an astronaut on Skylab-3 and Space Shuttle mission STS-9 with the Spacelab project. Richard, a video game designer and engineer by trade, flew to the ISS aboard a Soyuz craft and while there filmed the movie 'Apogee of Fear' completely in space.

Chris Doohan, son of the famed engineer and uncredited extra in several Trek movies, requested that his father's ashes be laid in the stars. It was one of his last desires, and was met by Garriott back in 2008. Garriott discussed the timing of this news with The Times saying, “It was completely clandestine. His family were very pleased that the ashes made it up there but we were all disappointed we didn’t get to talk about it publicly for so long. Now enough time has passed that we can.”

It is just now hitting headlines 12 years later. And as far as anyone can tell, the ashes are still stowed aboard the ISS to this day. Other things have been hidden on the ISS such as messages from various repair and mission crews and the recent Baby Yoda brought aboard via SpaceX Crew-1 earlier this year.

James Doohan passed away in 2005 and, while some of his ashes were sent into space a couple other times, this was a highlight for his family. They know right where he is - a mere 240 miles or 400 kilometers above the surface of the Earth.

Talk about "boldly going where no man has gone before!" Let us know what you think in the comments below.

WRITTEN BY Caymen Greener
EDITED BY Silek
4 Comments
Sat 09 Jan, 2021 12:55 PM
That's a really good article Caymen Smile
Sat 09 Jan, 2021 1:54 PM
Not a bad place for them! That said, I wouldn't want my ashes scattered in space, I want a Viking funeral!
Sat 09 Jan, 2021 11:14 PM
I don't know if it is my brain playing tricks but i seem to remember the craft that went to Pluto had some of his ashes with it too. As ISS is set to de-orbit within the next decade thát gives me more good feels, knowing that craft is going to be out there for ever..
Good article though!
Sun 10 Jan, 2021 12:16 PM
By all accounts he seemed like a genuinely good human being. Rest well sir.