NASA taking cremated ashes to the moon with Celestis in 2021

NASA is heading back to the moon to see if people can live there. Some people who have already died are coming along.

People’s cremated ashes are to be sent to the Moon next year as part of a commercial burial service piggybacking on a NASA lunar mission.

Texas space memorial firm Celestis will provide more than a dozen capsules carrying human remains and DNA for the flight.

Dubbed Luna 2, the mission will launch on a July 2021 NASA flight to a region of the Moon called Lacus Mortis, Space.com reports.

To date, only one person – revolutionary planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker – has been buried on the lunar surface.

Celestis, which is based in Houston, aims to change that by regularly firing up remains to Earth’s rocky neighbour.

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Planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker’s ashes were sent to the moon in 1999, two years after he died in car crash in the Australian desert.

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“The Celestis memorial capsules … will remain on the Moon as a permanent tribute to the intrepid souls who never stopped reaching for the stars,” the firm writes on its website.

“Each time you view the Moon you’ll know your loved one is in a place few have ever gone.”

The remains of former space scientists, sci-fi authors and even a British maths teacher will be on-board next year’s ground breaking flight.

NASA’s own Mareta West, the lunar geologist who determined the crucial site for the first landing on the Moon, will have her remains scattered as part of the mission.

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The Lunar Prospector module carried ashes to the moon, where it deliberately crashed to look for water. Picture: Space/exploration

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Celestis’ 2021 burials will be carried to the lunar surface by a spacecraft built by private US robotics outfit Astrobotic.

Its Peregrine Lander will be the first American spacecraft to land on the Moon since Apollo.

The mission, called Peregrine Mission One, will be launched by United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Capsules will remain on the Moon as a permanent memorial, Celestis said.

The remains of Mr Shoemaker – the planetary scientist laid to rest on the Moon in 1999 – were scattered in partnership with Celestis.

Next year’s mission will mark only the company’s second memorial flight – more than 20 years on from its first.

It’s a futuristic way to honour the dead and a result of space travel becoming more commonplace.

Astrobotic was selected in 2019 by NASA for a $US79.5 million ($A108.6 million) contract to deliver payloads to the Moon.

As well as Celestis capsules, the Pittsburgh-based company will use its lander to drop off scientific and technology demonstration equipment.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission