Capsules with DNA samples and ashes from the deceased are among the payloads of Astrobotic's Peregrine robotic lander, which will be launched to the Moon on behalf of NASA in July 2021.
Astrobotic is one of the U.S. firms partnering with NASA to bring research and technology to the lunar surface through the Commercial Lunar Cargo Services (CLPS) project as part of the Artemis program for the return of robotic and manned ships to the Moon.
The destination of Peregrine, to be launched on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, is a location in the northeastern part of the Moon called Lacus Mortis. Celestis, Inc. is selling this lunar funeral service on its website for a whopping $12,500, and there are even more expensive packages.
Celestis calls the upcoming mission Luna 02 or "Flight of Tranquility." The latter designation honors the Apollo missions (Apollo 11 landed in the Moon's Sea of Tranquility) and defines the ultimate resting place and tranquility for the participants and their families says co-founder and CEO of Celestis, Charles Chafer.
Celestis provides a number of choices for taking the remains of the dead to space, Chafer told Space.com. "Our Luna Service is among the most popular, providing families and friends with an off-planet service permanence and provides a constant reminder in the night sky of a loved one's final resting place," Chafer said.
The Luna 02 mission is the 18th commemorative space flight mission for Celestis. The organization also launched symbolic portions of cremated bodies into suborbital space and Earth's orbit, as well as the lunar surface.
A wide range of people can take Celestis Tranquility's space trip to the moon, including aerospace engineers, a steelworker, an airline executive, a British math teacher, and an American high school chemistry teacher.
Celestis' Luna 01 flight carried the "ashes" of famed astrobiologist Eugene Shoemaker to the moon on NASA's Lunar Prospector spacecraft in 1998. Planetary Physicist Carolyn Pig led the proposal to commemorate the late scientist.
At the conclusion of Lunar Prospector's 19-month moon investigation, the spacecraft intentionally crashed into a crater of everlasting darkness at the lunar south pole on July 31, 1999. This place is now an enduring shrine to the Shoemaker.
Celestis is not the only company offering lunar memorial services for the 2021 Peregrine mission: San Francisco-based Elysium Space is also doing so.
Elysium Space charges $9,950 for the first 50 mission applicants and $11,950 for additional reservations.
