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Remains of James Doohan Lost in New Mexico

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the red-shirts-all-around dept.

caffiend666 writes "According to a Space.com news article the cremated remains of 200 people were lost in the mountains after their trip to space. 'The search for the UP Aerospace payload of experiments and the cremated remains of some 200 people — including "Scotty" of Star Trek fame, as well as pioneeering NASA Mercury astronaut, Gordon Cooper — continues within rugged New Mexico mountain landscape.' Is it just me, or does it seem appropriate that they lost the landing party? Here's to a safe recovery!"

60 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. No problem. by ScrewMaster · · Score: 4, Funny

    Spock will figure out the only logical place it could be.

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    1. Re:No problem. by srmalloy · · Score: 4, Funny

      I guess the engines really couldn't take it...

    2. Re:No problem. by novus+ordo · · Score: 5, Funny

      Keith Richards' nose?

      --
      "You're everywhere. You're omnivorous."
    3. Re:No problem. by Miseph · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not to be an ass about your dead friend... but seriously, relax. Suck as it may, he's gone, and there's no sense in worrying he might have been injured, or that he's offended.

      Besides, I'd expect that if your buddy wanted to be launched into space, he'd have a sense of humor about this sort of thing.

      --
      Try not to take me more seriously than I take myself.
    4. Re:No problem. by lordmatthias215 · · Score: 4, Funny

      If I had to be lost somewhere, it'd be the land of Latinas and tequila.

      Sounds a whole heck of a lot like the New Mexico I know...

    5. Re:No problem. by McFadden · · Score: 4, Funny

      And in that vein...

      I wouldn't worry about looking for Doohan. Just wait a few weeks and he'll show up on eBay.

  2. Poor Gordo Cooper... by Blackbrain · · Score: 3, Funny

    As Gordo would have said: "Looks like someone screwed the pooch on this one".

    --
    Where would we be if Wheel had hid her round rock in a cave instead of showing everyone how it rolls?
  3. Clever... by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 4, Funny

    He *knew* the Nexus was going to go through that exact point.

  4. Obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    He was always wearing a red shirt. It was inevitable that he would be lost.

    1. Re:Obvious by Infoport · · Score: 4, Funny

      no, it is only the new crewmen in red shirts who are doomed. If you have a nickname, you are pretty much safe.

      and being Ensign something, well you might as well leave your good boots at home for someone else.

    2. Re:Obvious by solitas · · Score: 5, Funny

      http://echosphere.net/star_trek_insp/insp_expendab ility.jpg

      --
      "It's time to take life by the cans." ~ Bender ("Bendin' in the Wind", ep. 3-13)
  5. what by wizardforce · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It sounds like this landing did what they wanted it to other than the fact they lost the thing- which makes me wonder why they didn't think of using a tracking beacon of some sort rather than calculating where the thing was. all they would need to do is go toward ths signal.

    --
    Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
    1. Re:what by wizardforce · · Score: 5, Informative

      If the rocket did what it was supposed to why would the remains and other crap have come back to earth?
      because it was never meant to leave Earth completely, it was SUPPOSED to come back down
      --
      Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
    2. Re:what by jddj · · Score: 2, Funny

      Or just put a tractor beam on it on the way down.

  6. Raise your hands by suv4x4 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who else thinks the whole idea is kinda retarded? I mean, in the beginning I thought the ashes of those people will be dispersed in space, which was very strong as a symbol and a ceremony, of sorts.

    But carry them in space and land them (and now .. to lose them)? What the hell was the effin point of this whole thing?

    1. Re:Raise your hands by BlargIAmDead · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think the point was to see how the remains of several cremated people reacted to zero g conditions. We now now that when subjected to these certain conditions they gain enough intelligence to outsmart NASA :)

    2. Re:Raise your hands by Saeger · · Score: 4, Insightful

      *shrug* Most cultures are still obsessed with the mind's dead vessel; that's not going to change overnight.

      IMO, both cremation & cemeteries are a huge waste of resources. When I finally get around to writing my Will, it'll include something to the effect: "If my pattern of mind is beyond repair, drop my naked nutrient-rich matter into a vertical hole and plant a tree. I forbid energy-wastful cremation, and burial in a rip-off casket in a drab cemetery surrounded by giant obelisk phallic symbols..." Of course, there's probably some business-friendly laws which says that's illegal.

      --
      Power to the Peaceful
    3. Re:Raise your hands by Ignis+Flatus · · Score: 3, Funny

      What the hell was the effin point of this whole thing?
      to make money, of course. it was a private enterprise.
    4. Re:Raise your hands by suv4x4 · · Score: 2, Informative

      IMO, both cremation & cemeteries are a huge waste of resources.

      Cremation is useful in that it avoid infection spreading (especially, but not limited to when the man/woman died froma dangerous infection disease). It gets cremated and can be dealt with with much less resources.

      But dropping the vessel from space and losing the ash in a forest isn't exactly what I imagined it should be like.

    5. Re:Raise your hands by sendai2ci · · Score: 2, Informative

      Claim that it is your religion, PC should still trump business-friendly.

      Islamic burial traditions for one specifies burial without a coffin, with markers or any sort discouraged. Although they are laid on their right side with their face towards Mecca...

    6. Re:Raise your hands by prelelat · · Score: 4, Funny

      to make money, of course. it was a private enterprise. I can't tell if that was a pun or not.

      Either way good call.
    7. Re:Raise your hands by value_added · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "If my pattern of mind is beyond repair, drop my naked nutrient-rich matter into a vertical hole and plant a tree. I forbid energy-wastful cremation, and burial in a rip-off casket in a drab cemetery surrounded by giant obelisk phallic symbols..." Of course, there's probably some business-friendly laws which says that's illegal.

      I had this in mind when I chose to bury two of my dogs in the backyard. Looking back on the experience (I ended up with two small plaques and planting some flowers and shrubs), I don't regret my decision. I could write an essay on the subject, but it should suffice to say it just seemed like the right thing to do. From every point of view.

      Whether the above is legal, I don't know. My guess is that it isn't. Once upon a time people (at least those who owned land) had family cemeteries. Maybe someone here who knows more about such traditions could enlighten us. At any rate, today, at least here in California, burying someone on private land, irrespective of whether you own one acre of land or 1000 acres, was made illegal sometime in the 1920s (?).

      It's kind of shame, really. Obviously, we can't all just around burying people just anywhere (broadband deployment is complicated enough), but there's something to be said for being buried in the dirt, and having someone come along and plant some grass or a tree where you were laid to rest.

      Recyling at its best.

    8. Re:Raise your hands by Mr2cents · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well spoken. It's an industry. The one thing I remember when my grandfather died (it was an insanely emotional period - my other grandfather had just died a week earlier, both unexpected), the undertakers were there in no time and asked my grandmother: "do you want him to be buried in first class or second class ground?" (literally). What is she supposed to say at such a time? Of course she chose "first class", thinking she would honour him that way. In reality, she just paid a lot of money.. for what? I was quite disgusted.

      --
      "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
    9. Re:Raise your hands by freaker_TuC · · Score: 3, Informative

      My grandma has died 2 months ago, the government already closes the bank account at first knowledge of death. This to pay the expenses of the undertakers, the church service, the after service (in Belgium with coffee cakes and sandwiches, because it's a tradition to eat and talk with the relatives around in a room/tables) and some other expenses...

      These expenses start with the "cheapest" which is not really "cheap" anymore but rather expensive and if you want to be buried with some decency (which won't change anything for you anymore anyways), the bill will be -very- expensive/uncatholic ... It seems to be a profitable business, maybe some idea through the web *shrug*

      --
      --- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
    10. Re:Raise your hands by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
      I had this in mind when I chose to bury two of my dogs in the backyard.

      How did you get them to stay there? Mine always dig themselves out.

    11. Re:Raise your hands by feyhunde · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The laws aren't Business-Friendly, they are related to public health. Lets say I did what you wanted and planted you in a shallow grave with no casing and planted a tree. While a very nice gesture, your bodies' parasites and fungi live on. And if you died of say, Cholera, your Cholera rich body is leaking it into the ground water. While there is a racket associated with much of the funeral biz, and much of it is greedy, there is reason behind the laws. Burial laws are in place to be a public health issue, and are written in river valleys where water tables make it so that naked corpses in shallow holes spread disease. Now what I like are cremation with a few options for ashes. A caveat for incase of foul play of course. I like spreading my ashes as an option. Burying an urn is what my grandparents had done (they are in national cemeteries). While the last option that sounds nice is get your ashes compressed into a Diamond/Diamond like gem. I'm morally against to normal Diamond due to the economics. However, I like the idea of having my ashes in a Diamond that can be given to my grandchildren and on down the generations.

      --
      I'd say more, but my guild is raiding.
    12. Re:Raise your hands by camperdave · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Very few people can pull off "intimidating" when stuffed and left on a couch. "Creepy", on the other hand...

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    13. Re:Raise your hands by siriuskase · · Score: 2, Insightful

      When my husband died, I rented a coffin for $200. We used it for almost a week before finally getting him cremated. Not bad, I guess considering what a motel goes for around here.

      --
      If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
    14. Re:Raise your hands by Rie+Beam · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, the idea of a minimal-impact burial is alive and well. Fitting with the tradition, it's called a "green burial". Google isn't all that helpful at this point, but it's essentially being unembalmed, being thrown in a cardboard box and having a tree plotted over you as opposed to a traditional process. I'm not sure how popular it is now, but an article from about a year ago denotes a small, but growing, trend:

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/artic le.html?in_article_id=389741&in_page_id=1879

    15. Re:Raise your hands by suv4x4 · · Score: 2, Funny

      That kinda sucks for anyone years in the future who may want to study the body to see how you lived and what caused your death.

      We're in the 21-st century. He doesn't need to study your body to find how you lived, he just needs to Google your name.

    16. Re:Raise your hands by name*censored* · · Score: 2, Funny
      >>Just had a weird flashback of playing online games and seeing corpses dissolve into thin air. How do they do it.... ;)

      Ah, nuts to THAT! Iwant to know how they manage to RESPAWN.
      --
      Commodore64_love: I don't comprehend people who're so frightened of death that they'll bankrupt themselves to stay alive
    17. Re:Raise your hands by stanmann · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It has to be certified by the state health department for storage and transport of human remains. doing that as a one off today will cost you rather more than your materials. and yes, for $40 of materials, but how much time, and how much does that time cost on a commercial scale.

      --
      Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
    18. Re:Raise your hands by apparently · · Score: 2, Informative
      "drop my naked nutrient-rich matter into a vertical hole and plant a tree." Well, the safer way would be something like Capsula Mundi:

      Capsula Mundi is a design for a biodegradable coffin made from starch plastic that holds the deceased in a fetal position... Capsula Mundi is planted in the earth like a seed. Above it, to signal the presence of occupied space, is a shallow concave circle dug out of the ground. In the center of which, a tree is planted, the essence of it chosen in life by the dead one, the care of this tree is the responsibility of everyone. The aim is ecological burial, literally a more natural way to decay.

    19. Re:Raise your hands by nobuddy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      My will says "Give away any parts anyone wants, burn the rest."

    20. Re:Raise your hands by smellsofbikes · · Score: 2, Interesting

      To the best of my knowledge, in many states, it is required that you buy a casket, and in most states it is required that you buy *some* sort of container, even if it's just a little cardboard box like an ice-cream container for the ashes. Luckily, those are cheap, comparatively, like $20 or so. My dad's ashes are still sitting in that little box, 6 years later, on my mom's clothesdryer. (Not a real sentimental family, but boy we have procrastination down to a science.)

      And if he were still around, he'd be pissed, coz he always said he wanted to be composted.

      It *is* legal to bury a human body on your property, although it's very difficult -- easier if there's any evidence there was a pre-existing graveyard there already -- but there are requirements for depth and containment that make nutrient-recovery difficult.

      I personally plan on chugging a quart of nitroglycerine and jumping off a building (if my heart lasts long enough to get to the edge.)

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
  7. clear throat, cue theremin by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Funny

    Rural New Mexico, the final frontier. These are the remains of James Doohan. Its five-minute mission: to explore cactus and scrub mesas; to not burn up and burst its canister; to boldly go where no cremated remains have gone before.

    oooooo waaaahhh, wah wah wah wah wah....

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  8. Sent into space? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Man, if I was, like, "Send my ashes into space when I die" and they were like, "OK, we can send you in a suborbital trajectory", I'd be all like, "Fuck that bitches, I said SPACE".

  9. Not again, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is the second time he's put himself into a transporter loop waiting for rescue.
    Clevernickname better get off his blog and go get him.

  10. Re:Sad :( by DumbSwede · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In the game of life we are ALL wearing red shirts

    --
    Letter To Iran
  11. Damn it Jim! by nihilistcanada · · Score: 4, Funny

    I am a doctor not an orbital scientist!

  12. His Last Words by Hoi+Polloi · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Yah c'nt bury me, yoo got na ashes!"

    --
    It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
  13. Wow, they weren't retarded. by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 4, Informative

    They did use a tracking becon. As far as they can tell, it is still working, to a couple km (diameter) circle. Unfortunately it landed in mountainous terrain, and "go[ing] towards the signal" is a physical impossiblity. (Okay, not impossible, but quite difficult). Also, the terrain is messing with the signals.

    Next week (no hurry I suppose), the manufacturers of the tracking device are bringing more sensitive equipment and more experienced searchers to search for it.

    --
    Your ad here. Ask me how!
    1. Re:Wow, they weren't retarded. by NeoManyon · · Score: 2, Funny

      Next week (no hurry I suppose), the manufacturers of the tracking device are bringing more sensitive equipment and more experienced searchers to search for it. Yes it is only the experienced searcher that can walk around and properly say "Nope, not here..."
      --
      Your thoughts form your reality.
  14. Searching in the wrong place... by ChangeOnInstall · · Score: 4, Funny

    Has anyone checked ebay yet?

    --
    What has *science* done?!? -- Dr. Weird (ATHF)
  15. Summary is incorrect by treeves · · Score: 2, Informative

    Nitpick: TFA says they didn't get into space. TFS says "remains of 200 people were lost in the mountains after their trip to space."

    --
    ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
  16. Breaking news... by fireman+sam · · Score: 4, Funny

    The ship has been found, but unfortunately everyone on board have been confirmed dead. :(

    --
    it is only after a long journey that you know the strength of the horse.
  17. Obligatory Bones Quote: by rts008 · · Score: 4, Funny

    He's dead, Jim!

    --
    Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
  18. No big surprise by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 2, Funny

    The capsule probably just encountered a rift in spacetime and ended up landing somewhere like ancient Rome or 1920s Chicago. As I understand it, this kind of thing happens all the time to space vehicles. They probably shouldn't waste too much effort looking for it in the present.

  19. Send in the red shirts! by WheelDweller · · Score: 3, Informative

    In these crazy days, doesn't it seem like there's a lawyer somewhere just WAITING for the first time a journalist writes the headline, "Lost in Space" so they can get copyright infringement?

    Maybe I'm too cynical. :>

    Seriously though; "Scotty" was a huge hero even before Star Trek. One of his previous roles was on June 6th, 1944: he was one of them attacking Fortress Europa. His efforts, and the efforts of thousands of other guys wasting their childhood fighting Nazi Germany is why we're free. Why the show could air; why the benefits of freedom are so available. I liked'em before, but upon learning that, I'm his biggest fan.

    My dad came behind the push at Anzio, he got a late start. Dad is why I know this was such a huge accomplishment. Thanks so much, "Scotty".

    --
    --- For a good time mail uce@ftc.gov
  20. Not exactly by kahrytan · · Score: 4, Insightful


      They should launched Doohan and Cooper into deep space. They deserve better then to be shoved back to this stinkin planet.

    --
    \
  21. They'll be found eventually.. by sprior · · Score: 3, Funny

    On Ebay...

  22. she's breaking up!! by einnar2000 · · Score: 2, Funny

    After all those years of saying things like "she's breaking up cap'n, she can't take much more of this", it was bound to eventually happen. The engineer had to pass away before his ship even had a chance of malfunctioning like this, after all. ;)

  23. He's not really dead by Rix · · Score: 3, Funny

    He just stored himself in the transporter buffer.

  24. Looks like he's... by ICantHearYourMusicAn · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...gone where no man has gone before. (But they're trying to fix that too)

  25. Re:Someone failed grade 5 math by afaik_ianal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... and somebody failed physics.

    If they followed your suggestion, they probably wouldn't find it. The signals in mountainous terrain bounce all over the place.

    Even if it were that simple to locate, you've still got to get in there to pick it up.

  26. Think of the Environment!! by dazlari · · Score: 2, Funny
    That's just crazy. Here I was thinking he would be polluting space, crashing in to the ISS in 30years or so.

    Why o' why didn't they just fire him into the side of a nearby Mountain - it'd have saved on the Rocket fuel and thereby made a smaller environmental ... impact. :o/

  27. That's not the real reason by Rix · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's to keep them in the ground when the zombie apocalypse comes.

  28. Re:There are logical reason to this by khallow · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I doubt health problems would be an issue unless the person died of a communicable disease like cholera or polio. Of course, in the 19th and early 20th Century, that would have been a serious problem. OTOH, given the laws against desecration of human remains, being able to bury human remains just anywhere would be a huge obstacle to construction.

  29. Re:Possibly by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 2, Funny

    In a few days, they'll make headlines by having found the ashes. ... if the Krikkit robots don't beat them to the punch, that is.
  30. Re:Someone failed grade 5 math by Floritard · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ironic that the remains of the transporter chief lie in an area so inaccessible. A solid advocate for beam technology even from beyond the grave!