Out This World Funerals: Fascinating New Option for Your Loved One’s Ashes

Most of the time when people are in a situation where they need to attend a funeral for the passing of a loved one, we are captured in the feelings of grief. Everyone, friends and family congregate together to say their final goodbyes to who it ever that has passed.

It's not uncommon that in these circumstances, collectively we lose sight of the fact that a funeral as sad as it is, is also supposed to be a celebration of one's life. Recently one company has been making news for their revolutionary new methods in helping people celebrate their deceased loved ones.

Funeral Rockets to Outer Space

No need to rub your eyes and check what you just read again, yes this company is offering individuals the opportunity to send their deceased loved ones to outer space, or part of them anyway. Let me explain....

The company is called Celestis and they offer Memorial Spaceflights. The company was co-founded back in 1994 by entrepreneur Charles M. Chafer and since 1997, they have carried well over a dozen different missions and they have a number of missions scheduled within the next couple years, including a couple of missions that happened just a few months ago.

History of Celestis

Human beings have always held an incredible fascination with outer space dating back to the earliest days of science fiction. Though its founding came about in 1994 it took more than decades worth of work by Mr. Chafer and R. Chan Tysor who essentially merged together the Celestis group and Space Services Inc. of America to create Celestis Inc.

According to information on the Celestis website, the first Celestis flight in 1997 called the Founders Flight, sent a portion of the cremated remains of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek with 23 other pioneers onboard. The following year in 1998, at the request of NASA, Celestis provided a flight capsule that allowed for NASA to send and bury the remains of Dr. Eugene Shoemaker, who was credited as being the "Father of Astrogeology"  on the Moon. To this day Dr. Shoemaker remains the only person with their remains buried on the moon.

Celestis has launched missions from Canary Islands, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, and Spaceport America in New Mexico. Between all of their missions up to present, Celestis has helped more than 1000 families from more than 20 countries around the world.

Celestis Upcoming Missions

To the present day, Celestis has launched 22 separate missions, with their most recent missions having taken place this past January. On January 8, 2024, the Tranquility and Enterprise flights were launched successfully and their more coming later this year.

Celestis next mission is the Harmony flight which is scheduled to take place on July 1, 2024. The Harmony will launch aboard the SpaceX Transporter 8 (Falcon 9) mission out of Vandenburg SFB, California. Celestis will also be launching the Serenity flight in October later this year, though an official date has not been set, and that flight will be taking place out of Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Celestis has other flights that are also scheduled to take place in both 2025 and 2026 respectively, though times and days for those flights have not yet been determined.

Continue Reading: Recent NASA Studies Reveal an Ever-Expanding Universe

Ticket for Space

Now here's the really fun question; how much can one of these ceremonial memorial flights to space cost?

Well, the Celestis website holds an entire section on their pricing and you may be surprised by what you see. Celestis offers four different types of packages for sending your loved one into space.

In order from least to most expensive, Celestis offers the

• Earth Rise Service package starting at $2,995
• Earth Orbit Service package starting at $4,995
• Luna Service starting at $12,995
• Voyager Service starting at $12,995

The difference in price of these packages stems from what the packages offer, just like any other package deal you've heard of. Follow the links provided to see full details of what the specific packages offer.

Celestis also offers a wealth of other information on their history and what else they do on their website. It is clear that Celestis offers a truly unique service unlike any other and they give a new definition for the meaning of looking towards the sky for your loved ones.