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Scotty To Be 'Beamed Up'
joel_archer writes "James 'Scotty' Doohan's remains will be launched into space in accord with his last wishes. Commercial space flight operator Space Services Inc. will launch the late actor's remains into space aboard its Explorers Flight on December 6. Along for the ride will be 120 others including an unidentified astronaut and Mareta West, the astrogeologist who determined the site for the first spacecraft landing on the moon. Fans can post tributes to Doohan at the Space Services Web site. Those messages will be digitized, packed with 'Scotty' and blasted into space."
...someone is screening those "tributes".
Anyway, RIP, Mr. Doohan. You were loved.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
I will be on that flight.
Everything I've ever heard from fans and co-workers has described James "Jimmy" Doohan as a man who was funny, caring, and a great guy to be with. Unlike certain unnamed Trek actors, he was never too big to attend the smallest convention and he was always pleased just to be there for the fans. He will be truly missed.
No penguins were harmed in the making of this post.
Those ashes aren't really going into space, just low-earth orbit, and their orbit will decay in a decade or so.
I canna do it Captain.
Seriously.
Robert Anton Wilson
Please stop APK.. you're only hurting yourself.
BBC ran this article months ago:
Scotty's ashes to hit outer space
I'll be your candy shop of infinite deliciousity if you'll be my discotheque of endless rump-shaking.
Not that I have anything against Mr Doohan personally, but this strikes me as an incredibly stupid idea.
Why waste all that money, time and effort putting *dead people* into orbit so they can float around for a while being a space junk hazard?
As Mr Spock would say...
-- Braden's law of data: All data spends some of its lifetime in an excel spreadsheet.
Well, having already been incinerated once, at least Scotty will be able to consider himself an old hand at these things if the rocket explodes on launch.
Las qué passoun
tournoun pas maï
Knowing the damage one of those capsule would cause to a satellite, it's like allowing people to put their tombstones on the highway ...
http://www.transparency.org
Q: How many members of the U.S.S. Enterprise does it take to change a
light bulb?
A: Seven. Scotty has to report to Captain Kirk that the light bulb in
the Engineering Section is getting dim, at which point Kirk will send
Bones to pronounce the bulb dead (although he'll immediately claim
that he's a doctor, not an electrician). Scotty, after checking
around, realizes that they have no more new light bulbs, and complains
that he "canna" see in the dark. Kirk will make an emergency stop at
the next uncharted planet, Alpha Regula IV, to procure a light bulb
from the natives, who, are friendly, but seem to be hiding something.
Kirk, Spock, Bones, Yeoman Rand and two red shirt security officers
beam down to the planet, where the two security officers are promply
killed by the natives, and the rest of the landing party is captured.
As something begins to develop between the Captain and Yeoman Rand,
Scotty, back in orbit, is attacked by a Klingon destroyer and must
warp out of orbit. Although badly outgunned, he cripples the Klingon
and races back to the planet in order to rescue Kirk et. al. who have
just saved the natives' from an awful fate and, as a reward, been
given all light bulbs they can carry. The new bulb is then inserted
and the Enterprise continues on its five year mission.
- fortune-mod
May the great actor rest in peace.
This is just stupid. The matter from the bodys of the deceased should stay on earth and be used by plats, then eaten by animals and then eaten by us. Not launched into space - whatif this space burial thing really takes of and millions of kg of ashes is launched every year for a few hundred million years? :(
...who immediately submitted, "He's dead, Jim"?
I've never watched Star Trek (*turns in geek card*), but it seems fitting.
My other car is first.
I'll answer my own question. I'm 42 years old, and with that age (including a family with two amazing daughters that I scarecly deserve) comes a belief that there's something bigger than my not-so-amazing life... that the two children I fathered (and especially the wife who bore them) are somehow more wonderful than me, or anything I could imagine. A surprising consideration from someone who has developed a sense of wonder but who doesn't have a belief in the supernatural. I'm in awe of my progeny and the woman who agreed to share her life with me...
Why is it that the news of James' passing makes me think of this, here in the wee hours of the morning? I guess it's not hard to deconstruct... I think we'd all like to be the one who worked behind the scenes, the one who made things possible but never got the credit for it. It's a romantic thought that is powerful in me...
With the most reverent "I'm givin' 'er all she's got, Captain!",
- Leo
You don't use science to show that you're right, you use science to become right.
n/t
I guess today is a passable day to die.
They prepared the citizens to stay calm when the NASA needed money to fly to the moon.
The NASA should rest them in space.
Yeah. Just replace "Scotty" with "Pile of ashes". and "Beamed up" with "rocket launched" and we'll have an title that reflects reality.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
Image courtesy of STARTREK.com
Damn-Paramount-Ferengis.
Can someone point us to a tutorial on digitizing messages for space. Sounds difficult.
In 100 billion years or so, there are gonna be some seriously freaked out aliens.
Amazing Grace bagpipes mp3 Perhaps they could record a good solo version and send it along. (linked version has an accompaniment) A song written by a captain who set his cargo of slaves free seems appropriate for the man who enslaved himself to the role of Scotty and made the best of it. (Not to mention the scene at Spock's funeral.)
Now don't stone me for this, but I am about ten years too young to have grown up with the classic Star Trek. I grew up on TNG and that is by far my favorite. I never really cared for the Classic. However, when I was 14 (I'm now 25) and heard Scotty was coming to town for a Star Trek convention, I was there. I got a couple of autographs, got to shake his hand, and hear him tell stories.
The thing that impressed me the most about him was that he didn't seem to have a self-inflated "I'm-an-American-Icon" attitude. He had a very gentle "grandfather" like attitude and spoke with a soft voice. James Doohan is the man.
Why do we do anything with dead people other than run them through meat grinders and then drop the result in a compost heap? Obviously, whether with or without religious convictions, most of us want to show respect to the dead and the people they have left behind. This is far more important to most people than the value of a few pounds of solid matter that make up a typical human body. When you think logically, even the practice of encasing each dead person in a wood or steel box, and then dropping said box in a plot of land, leaving that land unusable for any other purpose forever is unsustainable. If human custom remains this way long enough, the entire Earth would be one giant cemetery with billions of steel boxes wasting incredible resources. I suspect our customs will change long before this becomes an issue. On the other hand, perhaps it is hubris to assume that humanity will survive long enough for this to become a problem.
RETURN without GOSUB in line 1050
Let's review the past few years. Space shuttle launches, gets damaged by debris on lift off. Of course, it wasn't proven, just highly speculated that the debris came from some foam that fell off during launch. Several people burned alive upon reentry because of the damage.
Most recent shuttle launch, part of the voyage's purpose is diverted to make a repair, presumably because of more debris damage.
Most recently, a private firm is allowed to launch a bunch of shit into orbit to make more debris danger and to commemorate a few people with enough money to waste on this kind of stuff, rather than give the wealth away to charitable organizations who are fighting disease or trying to make the world a better place. Great idea.
...::----::...
I am in no way affiliated with this sig.
A new business is born (with a fitting PR campain I might add)
Anyway, RIP Scotty
Superb Hosting
"Very funny Scotty, now beam up my clothes!"
If Microsoft was mass, stupidity would be gravity.
Last year, when my father past away, I have been thinking about what to do with myself when I pass on. My father and mother have a plot in a mausoleum. Burying my remains seems to be a little boring, so I thought about cremation. But I do not want to have my dust stuck in an urn for all eternity. I am an atheist agnostic, so I do not have any predetermined requirements for my remains.
I spend some time thinking about doing something special with my ashes if I chose cremation. A lot of people seem to like their ashes spread in ocean or in the sky. I thought about my ashes going to space, like Scotty's, but it may not be an option for a chump like me. Unless there is a service that performs this or I get connections, my family won't be able to do this practically.
I went to the Internet to find alternatives. I found a couple that were interesting and practical. The one that seemed most attractive was creating diamonds from human ashes. I am not kidding. There are many companies, like LifeGem and Memory Jewels, that do this. I could not believe it myself. What else could be the best way for my wife and children to remember me by? I will have lasting sentimental value. Plus, loking at the price lists from Memory Jewels, it's much cheaper than buying a $3000 casket. I am seriously considering it, too.
Coderz 4 Life
..his wife has graciously and thoughtfully allowed fans to post tributes that will fly with him. given the choice between spy satellites and military hardware cluttering space, and people like gene rodenberry, and now james doohan, having some sky, hell, its a non issue, surely:)
Nothing - well thats something.
Mareta West determined the landing site for Luna 9 (the first spacecraft ever to land on the Moon)? I doubt that. Perhaps what the author meant is "the first manned flight ever to land on the moon"?
"Beam Scotty up, me!" and pushes the big red button.
To those who say this is foolish and a navagation hazard, please get a grip. Lets look at all the tons of space junk out there already. Are you seriously going to tell me that one vial of human ash is going to make a difference? Why don't you compare the size and mass of the vial with that of the primary cargo? "OMG, we are sending a boulder into orbit, but it's incrediby irresponsible to put a pebble up there with it!"
Puhleeze.
I was saddened when Jimmy Doohan died, and it makes me feel good to know that his ashes will be in space, perhaps until the 23rd century.
I loved the book. His time in the war, everything he did (invented Klingon-ese, wouldn't you know), he was always very modest about himself. Please give it a read if you feel you might at all be interested. I should hope your local library has a copy, but here is the amazon link just in case.
1 520563/qid=1129403831/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-5334 151-6528956?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/067
Technician 1 "What you mean we have a problem with once of the passengers? They are all dead"
Technician 2 "Not this one, he keeps banging on his container."
Technician 1 "It's just your imagination."
Technician 2 "No really go look, it's the big one"
Technician 1 Looks at large 7x3 cansister, inscription reads;
'From the Citizens of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.'
Michael Brown, Former FEMA director.
Technician 1, thinks for a bit and turns to Technician 2.
"If he doesn't like the ride tell him he can have a store credit when he gets back."
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
Not everyone may know about the autobiography and it'd be 'interesting' or 'informative' in this thread, I think. This is meta-moderation of a sort - encouraging mods! ;)
-- Mal: "Well they tell you: never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious."
This question seems to be coming up quite often in the threads here. From their FAQ:
Space Services' spacecraft is carefully designed so as not to create orbital debris. Our spacecraft stays permanently attached to a rocket stage that orbits until it harmlessly re-enters and is completely consumed by Earth's atmosphere - blazing like a shooting star in final tribute to the passengers aboard.
For missions which are launched aboard a commercially purchased launcher, the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration issues a license which verifies that the Space Services payload does not contribute to orbital debris. For missions not subject to FAA approval, Space Services voluntarily follows the same guidelines which prevent orbital pollution from its missions.
Don't you think that there are aliens in our own galaxy who are just as capable at reverse-engineering human storage media?
Assuming that our aliens are less capable than, uh, alien aliens is just being galaxist.
Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
... now he will be called "space junk" instead of "great actor" ...