NASA shuttle Columbia carried Roddenberry’s ashes on STS-52 in 1992

WireUnwired Research reported that Gene Roddenberry’s ashes flew into space on October 22, 1992, aboard Columbia on NASA’s STS-52 mission.

Shuttle commander James Wetherbee carried Roddenberry’s cremains, or cremated remains, in a small container among his personal items during the flight, WireUnwired Research reported. Wetherbee served as commander of Columbia on the STS-52 mission. He transported the ashes as part of his personal allowance rather than through official NASA cargo channels, so the ashes traveled with the crew’s personal belongings.

Majel Barrett, Roddenberry’s widow, requested the flight so her late husband could fulfill his lifelong dream of spaceflight, according to WireUnwired Research. Barrett initiated the request after Roddenberry’s death because he had wanted to experience spaceflight during his life. Her motivation was to let her late husband achieve a dream he never realized. The source attributes the memorial flight entirely to her initiative.

The memorial flight remained secret until 1994, with NASA and Roddenberry’s family withholding the news, WireUnwired Research reported. The secrecy lasted roughly two years after the Oct. 1992 launch. NASA and Roddenberry’s family jointly decided not to disclose the memorial payload at the time of liftoff. The public only learned about it in 1994.

Wetherbee said he felt honored to fulfill the request to carry the ashes, WireUnwired Research reported. Because the flight carried cremains into orbit, it represented the world’s first space burial. A space burial is the launching of human remains into space. The source presents STS-52 as a historical milestone connected to the mission and mentions no earlier space burial.

The secret mission cleared the path for Celestis, a space memorial company that began launching human remains on rockets in 1997, WireUnwired Research reported. The 1992 shuttle flight preceded the founding of the commercial space memorial industry. Celestis began its own rocket-based cremains launches in 1997, inspired by the earlier NASA mission. The source directly links STS-52 to the company’s creation.

Celestis missions later flew with additional ashes belonging to Roddenberry, Barrett, and actor James Doohan, WireUnwired Research reported. Roddenberry’s ashes were not the only ones to fly with Celestis after the shuttle mission. Barrett’s ashes and those of Star Trek actor James Doohan also flew on later Celestis missions. The source groups these three individuals together as repeat memorial passengers.

Celestis has flown cremains on orbital and suborbital missions using SpaceX Falcon 9 and additional rockets, WireUnwired Research reported. Celestis expanded beyond its early missions to use multiple launch providers. The company now flies cremains on both orbital and suborbital trajectories. Orbital missions circle Earth, while suborbital missions reach space but do not complete an orbit, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is specifically named as one of the rockets used for these flights.

In 1999, Celestis sent the ashes of astronomer Eugene Shoemaker to the moon, WireUnwired Research reported. Eugene Shoemaker was an astronomer whose ashes received a lunar destination. Celestis arranged for his cremains to be sent to the moon in 1999. This mission extended memorial spaceflight beyond Earth orbit to the lunar surface.

Celestis launched a deep-space mission in 2023, WireUnwired Research reported. A deep-space mission travels beyond Earth orbit, and the company’s 2023 flight extended beyond the moon. Celestis continued developing memorial spaceflight capabilities into the 2020s. The source presents this as part of Celestis’s ongoing operations.