The remains of Canadian-born actor James Doohan who played the character of Starship Enterprise’s chief engineer Scotty on television show Star Trek will be blasted into space the next month. Doohan died two years ago at the age of 85.
Houston-based commercial company Space Services revealed that some of Doohan’s remains were packed into a rocket at Las Cruces, New Mexico for a flight scheduled on April 28. The company had earlier planned the launch two years back, but it was delayed because of certain tests.
Doohan’s ashes will fly to the space with the remains of some 200 other people, including astronaut Gordon Cooper, who rocketed to space in 1963 and died in 2004 at an age of 77.
After a short flight in the space, the rocket will return to Earth and the capsules holding the remains will be retrieved and given back to relatives.
Space Services charges a fees of $US495 to send a sample of a dead person’s ashes into suborbital space. In 1997 remains of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry were sent to space.
