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Ashes of Doohan Sent Into Space

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the no-original-jokes-left dept.

Stephen Samuel writes "The CBC is reporting that Star Trek actor James Doohan ("Scotty") achieved his hopes of having his ashes launched into space when a package containing some of his ashes, ashes of Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper and about 200 other people were carried into sub-orbital space by a 6 meter (20') rocket. The rocket was launched by UP Aerospace from "Spaceport America", a commercial spaceport being developed in the southern New Mexico desert."

5 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. Sub-orbital space? by owlstead · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If you've got a small rocket (6 meters), that has already failed once, it's better to put part of the remains of a person in it than trying to fit a live person into it. So from that point of view I can understand this experiment.

    But to shoot ashes into space, while knowing they will return anyway, and first viewing an unsucccessful launch (ugh), what's the point? Glad it worked this time, having to return a third time, only to do it all over again... that might have been hard for the relatives.

  2. Re:NASA by tinkertim · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hmmmm... I would of thought some of the peeps at NASA could of thought of a more individual gesture than that. I realise he's not a REAL spaceman, but surely everyone at the big N A S A can tie a bit of their personal motivation back to good old Scottie....

    Discovery channel (last year) did a special on Vitamin Trek, how ST changed and helped shaped technology. If you look at the Ion Propulsion lab at NASA, it looks quite a bit like the engine room of the NCC 1701.

    He was of course an actor, but his acting was geek inspiring. I would have thought catapulting him to the sun or on a course likely to hit one of the gas giants would have been more fitting. I guess that costs money though :)

    So in memorium I'd just like to say :

    Up your shaft.

    (no, not flame bait, he said that on the Excelsior when the turbo lift talked to him)
  3. James Doohan WW2 Vet by rvr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I remember reading a bio of James Doohan when he died. My esteem went up for him greatly when I read that he was a WW2 vet. Born in Vancouver (woohoo!) and led a group of men at Juno beach on D-Day taking a few bullets in the process. The world seemed a little bit colder to me when I heard that he died. Fare thee well James.

  4. Craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Forces by Tteddo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just read this at Wikipedia: "One of the many legendary stories of his flying years tells of Doohan slaloming a plane -- variously cited as a Hurricane or a jet trainer -- between mountainside telegraph poles to prove it could be done, which earned him a serious reprimand." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Doohan

  5. Re:First Spock now Scotty by pclminion · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Worse, it seems that everything came back with the rocket. So, really, what happened is one ounce of Doohan's ashes made a round-trip jaunt to sub-orbital space. They spent maybe a couple minutes there and now all of his ashes are back on Earth.

    And your point is? We sure as hell HOPE that our astronauts COME BACK from their missions. He travelled high enough to earn a set of civilian Astronaut Wings. And like a real astronaut, he came back when he was done. I'm sure he'd be happy.