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James Doohan's remains to orbit the Earth |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Friday, 14 September 2007
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 Yes, James Doohan has been into space already. A vial containing his ashes was launch on a suborbital rocket flight out of New Mexico in May. He's going back, and this time into orbit. The flight, which will also take the late NASA astronaut Gordon Cooper's ashes with it, will take place some time in the first quarter of 2008. The company that runs the space memorials, Space Services, Inc, has reopened its site to allow fans of Doohan to send a symbolic message on a CD into orbit.
Space Services will be collecting messages until September 25th, as two days later the rocket's payload will be loaded and it will be too late to add more messages. Don't worry, if you were one of the 12,000 who added their words to the original memorial flight, Space Services will be including those with the new disc.
This flight will be destined for what is called a 'semi-permanent orbit,' where both the satellite being carried by the rocket and the rocket's upper stage will orbit the Earth for several years before burning up during reentry of the atmosphere. The Falcon 1 rocket used for the launch is built by SpaceX, a private spaceflight company. The rocket design has thus far had two launches, neither of which achieved orbit.
The so-called "Explorer's Flight" that will carry the ashes of Doohan, Cooper, and others into orbit will be launched from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
View: Space Services - James Doohan Tribute Message
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