Late Astronauts Fly In Space Without Medical Certificate

What is behind the bizarre practice of launching capsules containing
the burnt human remains of celebrities into space? Isn't this
ghoulish practice just a bit beneath the dignity of science?




http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Moo...rospector.html
Ashes of a "Great Founder" On Board

NASA placed an ounce of the cremated remains of a man NASA scientists
called a "great founder" of planetary science aboard Lunar Prospector.
The ashes are the remains of Eugene Shoemaker who was a co-discoverer
of Shoemaker-Levy 9, a comet that crashed into Jupiter in 1995.


http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?p=p...icp=1&.intl=us
December 2

Late Mercury Astronaut to Make Third, Final Flight

Susan Cooper, the widow of Mercury astronaut Gordon "Gordo" Cooper who
died in October 2004, said Thursday that her husband's ashes will be
included in the memorial payload to be launched on-board a commercial
expendable rocket scheduled for no earlier than March 2006, Alan Boyle
with MSNBC.com reported.

"In life, Gordon would have taken another trip into space... so I
figured, why not now?" Cooper told Boyle.

The launch was arranged by Space Services, a company co-founded by
Cooper's fellow Mercury astronaut Donald "Deke" Slayton specializing
in "post-cremation memorial spaceflights."

Cooper's remains will be carried spaceward on the Falcon 1, a yet-to-
be space tested launch vehicle built by Space Exploration Technologies
(SpaceX), along with a Pentagon satellite and the ashes of more than
170 people including actor James "Scotty" Doohan of Star Trek fame.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10283728
Susan Cooper said her husband never mentioned having his ashes flown
into space "per se," but he was good friends with Mercury colleague
Deke Slayton, who was one of the founders of Space Services Inc. She
said she decided having Space Services send some of Cooper's ashes
into space would be an appropriate tribute.

Space Services spokeswoman Susan Schonfeld said Gordon Cooper would be
the first astronaut to have his remains launched into space. However,
he is by no means the first person with space connections to be
memorialized in this way: "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry's ashes
went up on a previous flight, and Space Services also assisted with
the arrangements to have astronomer-geologist Gene Shoemaker's ashes
included on NASA's Lunar Prospector probe, which orbited the moon
until its lunar crash landing in 1999.



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...n1044692.shtml
Scotty Tributes To Blast Off Too

TORONTO, Nov. 15, 2005

(AP) When Scotty's ashes head for orbit next year, his fans can send
their best wishes along for the ride.

James Doohan, who played chief engineer Montgomery Scott of the
Starship Enterprise in the original "Star Trek" TV series and
subsequent movies, died at his Redmond, Wash., home in July at age 85.
The Vancouver, British Columbia-born actor had told relatives he
wanted his ashes blasted into outer space, as was done for "Star Trek"
creator Gene Roddenberry.

Some of Doohan's ashes will be launched some time in February or March
from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, said Susan Schonfeld, a
spokeswoman for Houston-based Space Services Inc., which has been
arranging memorial space flights for several years.

Details will be posted online at www.spaceservicesinc.com — where
Scotty's ...


http://www.space.com/spacenews/archi...ch_042104.html
SpaceX has also agreed to launch a much smaller payload for Chafer on
the Falcon’s debut launch — a small canister of cremated human
remains. The ashes are being flown as part of Chafer’s Celestis space
burial service which has been launching cremated remains into orbit
since 1998.



--
The true Axis Of Evil in America is our genius at marketing
coupled with the stupidity of our people. -- Bill Maher

What is behind the bizarre practice of launching capsules containing
the burnt human remains of celebrities into space? Isn't this
ghoulish practice just a bit beneath the dignity of science?

Junk accumulating in space could pose risks
Friday, January 20, 2006
Randolph E . Schmid
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON ‹ More than 9,000 pieces of space debris are orbiting Earth,
a hazard that can be expected to get only worse in the next few years.
And there¹s no workable and economic way to clean up the mess.

There is about 5,500 tons of space junk, according to a report by NASA
scientists J.C. Liou and N.L. Johnson in today¹s issue of the journal
Science.

Even if space launches were halted, the collection of debris would
continue to grow as items in orbit collide and break into more pieces,
Liou said.

"On the other hand, we are not claiming the sky is falling," he said,
"We just need to understand what the risks are."

The most debris-crowded area is between 550 and 625 miles above the
Earth, Liou said, meaning the risk is less for manned spaceflight. The
International Space Station operates at about 250 miles altitude, and
space shuttle flights tend to range between 250 and 375 miles, he said.

But the junk can pose a risk to commercial and research flights and
other space activities.

Much of the debris results from exploding satellites, especially those
left in orbit with leftover fuel and high-pressure fluids.

A 2004 NASA report identified Russia as the source of the most debris,
closely followed by the United States.

Even without new launches, the creation of debris from the collisions
will exceed the amount of material removed as orbits decay and items
fall back to Earth, the researchers said.

Only recovering large objects "can prevent future problems for research
in and commercialization of space," they wrote.

"As of now there is no viable solution, technically and economically, to
remove objects from space," Liou said.

More than 9,000 pieces of space debris are orbiting Earth,
a hazard that can be expected to get only worse in the next few years.
And there¹s no workable and economic way to clean up the mess.

this sounds like a job for Merry Maids in Space!

AJ

"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...
What is behind the bizarre practice of launching capsules containing
the burnt human remains of celebrities into space? Isn't this
ghoulish practice just a bit beneath the dignity of science?

Why should science and ceremony be mutually exclusive? Especially when the
ceremony is directed related to the science?

And what is so "ghoulish" about a burial? It's not like people are
sprinkling the ashes on their morning toast or something.

And why characterize the effort as being about "celebrities"? There's one
semi-famous guy, and almost a couple hundred people you never heard of.
Shoemaker is probably the next-most-famous guy on board this particular
flight (flights that have been going on for nearly eight years now), and
I'll bet less than 1% of a group of randomly selected people off the street
could tell you who he is.

And finally, just what about this story invokes "science" anyway? It
specifically says the remains will be launched "on-board a commercial
expendable rocket". As near as I can tell, the sole purpose is to get some
stuff into space (ashes of "more than 170 people", plus a spy satellite).

Not that I think it would be bad for a research mission to carry some ashes
along with it, but it doesn't appear that in this case "science" is relevant
except inasmuch as science allowed it to happen in the first place (which is
true of just about every Western burial practice today, to one extent or
another).

The best part is that the stuff in orbit doesn't remain there indefinitely.
Eventually, the orbit decays, and the dead guy becomes a meteorite. A quick
shooting star, and then they are truly "gone". There won't be any people
hundreds of years later getting upset that their burial plot has been
disturbed to make way for a shopping mall, highway, or apartment building.

It's a little more complicated than spreading a person's ashes from an
airplane, but at least you don't have to worry about them all blowing back
in the window!

Oh, I'm sorry...was I being "argumentative" again? Dang.

Pete

AJ wrote:
More than 9,000 pieces of space debris are orbiting Earth,
a hazard that can be expected to get only worse in the next few years.
And there¹s no workable and economic way to clean up the mess.

this sounds like a job for Merry Maids in Space!

Reminiscent of Spaceballs!

Larry Dighera wrote:
What is behind the bizarre practice of launching capsules containing
the burnt human remains of celebrities into space? Isn't this
ghoulish practice just a bit beneath the dignity of science?

Well, I don't think it's ghoulish. Are they forcing you to eat them?

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

"john smith" wrote

"As of now there is no viable solution, technically and economically, to
remove objects from space," Liou said.

Send up a bored teenager with a B-B-gun? That is how the local grain
elevator operator used to get rid of "surplus" mice and rats! g
--
Jim (dead shot with a Crossman 760) in NC

"LD" == Larry Dighera writes:

LD What is behind the bizarre practice of launching capsules
LD containing the burnt human remains of celebrities into space?
LD Isn't this ghoulish practice just a bit beneath the dignity of
LD science?

Ever read Michael Crichton's book (not the movie) "Jurassic Park"? In
the book, the rich guy funding the park knows that entertainment is
how bucks are made, and progress in science needs money. Therefore
apparently undignified activities (like entertainment) can be
harnessed to support progress (like in genetics).

Likewise this issue. It's not ghoulish, it simply is, like rich guys
paying Russia $20M a shot to be in orbit a few days and supporting
Russia's space program.

AJ

If they keep on improving lasers, I can envision a number of ground
stations (or aircraft or satellite mounted) that will burn up the junk
in orbit.

Big John
`````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```

On 20 Jan 2006 09:51:50 -0800, "AJ" wrote:

More than 9,000 pieces of space debris are orbiting Earth,
a hazard that can be expected to get only worse in the next few years.
And there¹s no workable and economic way to clean up the mess.

this sounds like a job for Merry Maids in Space!

AJ

In article ,
Big John wrote:


If they keep on improving lasers, I can envision a number of ground
stations (or aircraft or satellite mounted) that will burn up the junk
in orbit.


Uh -- "burn up", in space, without any oxygen around?

Melt and then vaporize, maybe -- though the vaporized mass might just
reclump into a small moonlet.

And, burned or vaporized, the same amount of mass is still orbiting
around, in a somewhat larger cloud maybe, but at the same speed. Not
sure whether that would be better or worse . . .

Interesting technical problem.