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People’s cremated ashes are to be sent to the moon next year as part of a commercial burial service carrying a NASA moon mission on its back.
The Texas Celestis space memorial company will supply more than a dozen pods carrying human remains and DNA for flight.
Dubbed Luna 2, the mission will launch with a NASA flight in July 2021 to a region of the moon called Lacus Mortis, Space.com reports.
To date, only one person – the revolutionary planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker – has been buried on the lunar surface.
Celestis, who is based in Houston, aims to change that by regularly lighting the remains of Earth’s rocky neighbor.
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“Celestis’ commemorative capsules … will remain on the moon as a permanent tribute to intrepid souls who have never stopped reaching for the stars,” the company writes on its website.
“Whenever you look at the Moon, you will know that your loved one is in a place few have ever gone.”
The remains of former space scientists, science fiction authors and even a British math teacher will be aboard next year’s groundbreaking flight.
NASA’s Mareta West herself, the lunar geologist who determined the crucial site for the first moon landing, will see her remains scattered as part of the mission.
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Celestis’ burials in 2021 will be transported to the lunar surface by a spaceship built by the US private robotics company Astrobotic.
His Peregrine Lander will be the first American spacecraft to land on the moon after Apollo.
The mission, called Peregrine Mission One, will be launched by the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The capsules will remain on the moon as a permanent memorial, Celestis said.
The remains of Mr Shoemaker – the planetary scientist buried on the Moon in 1999 – were scattered in collaboration with Celestis.
Next year’s mission will mark only the company’s second commemorative flight, more than 20 years after its first.
It’s a futuristic way to honor the dead and the result of space travel becoming more common.
Astrobotic was selected in 2019 by NASA for a $ 79.5 million ($ A108.6 million) contract to deliver payloads to the Moon.
In addition to the Celestis capsules, the Pittsburgh-based company will use its lander to deliver science and technology demonstration equipment.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and has been reproduced with permission
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