"Star Trek" Creator And Wife To Spend Eternity In Space

LOS ANGELES — The creator of "Star Trek" and his wife will spend eternity together in space. Celestis Inc., a company that specializes in "memorial spaceflights," said Monday that it will ship the remains of Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett Roddenberry into space next year.

The couple's cremated remains will be sealed into specially made capsules designed to withstand the rigors of space travel. A rocket-launched spacecraft will carry the capsules, along with digitized tributes from fans. The Roddenberrys' remains _ and the spacecraft _ will travel ever deeper into space and will not return to earth, company spokeswoman Susan Schonfeld said.

After Gene Roddenberry died in 1991, his wife commissioned Celestis to launch a part of his remains into space in 1997. She died Dec. 18, 2008.

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On the Net:

http://www.celestis.com

Comments

[James2001]

"The creator of "Star Trek" and his wife will spend eternity together in space."
...or maybe not.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2020:11-15;&version=47;

[wilray]

Someone posed the question "Has there ever been a book/movie combo that sold more worldwide than Harry Potter." Although, I see how the questioned is posed It's supposed to make Harry the big winner. However, if I had to lay my money on a franchise - Star Trek kicks ass. By any stretch of the imagination it's the absolute juggernaut. First movie sales should be adjusted for inflation. You can't compare $3 tickets to $10 tickets. There were five tv series, an animated series, 10 feature films, and another due to be released in May. BTW, I think the guy they chose for Spock is almost perfect. Countless conventions, books, costumes, and other tie in merchandise. An when we start talking influence and not just money, Star Trek shines. Star Trek was ahead of the pack on race and gender relations. In the beginning when Nichelle Nichols decided to leave the series, Martin Luther King asked her to stay. The cultural influence of Star Trek is immeasurable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_influence_of_Star_Trek
Geeks, live long and prosper - nothing trumps Star Trek.

[Uosdwis]

You couldn't find a picture of Gene and Majel? Granted, it would be at least nearly 20 years old, but it would fit the headline.

[viewfromuphere]

Yeh, I second that...

[DavidEzell]

How wonderful to have found someone to want to spend an eternity with. Someone most of us want but few of us will have. "Go gentle into that good night"

[DavidEzell]

How wonderful to find someone you would want to spend eternity with. Few of us will have that, and most of us want it. To paraphrase Dylan Thomas, "go gentle into that good night..."

[SouthJerseySteve]

Maybe some alien life form in a few centuries will have the technology to clone a human from the remains. That would be so cool.

[onalimb]

Apropos

[bibimimi]

rest in space!

[cloudminder]

very cool

rest in peace

or maybe find the Genesis Project

- thanks for giving me my name, folks

[Ged2012]

Include all Star Trek films and television shows in a hard drive, or any terabyte recording medium that could easily be turned on, together with the remains and other mementos.

[AmandaBC]

Now that would be totally useless. The rocket will just dump the canister in a low orbit. Chances that it will travel to another star system are ZERO. And if aliens can reach within a few miles of earth, they certainly don't need a DVD to know about us...

[sparrow1]

you have no idea what you're talking about

[Calvin Lai]

Geeeeeez, Buzz Killington, eh? Relax and let us geeks have our fantasies.

[brynnrose thorn]

You are wrong, wrong, wrong:

"Leaving Earth to touch the cosmos is an experience few have ever known, but many have often dreamed of. Space Services makes it possible to honor the dream and memory of your departed loved one by launching a symbolic portion of cremated remains into Earth orbit, onto the lunar surface or into deep space. Missions into space that return the cremated remains to Earth are also available."

http://www.celestis.com/?src=google/

[LiberalBuzz]

That's pretty cool.

I'd love to be able to afford to have my remains launched towards another galaxy. Spend millions of years traveling?

I want it.

[AmandaBC]

Polluting the atmosphere and making outer space even more crammed with useless junk just to satisfy someone's ego? It doesn't sound like a good idea to me. I know Star Trek is a kind of cult and some people may be hopping mad at me for saying this, but caring for the environment should come before honouring a writer and his wife.

[sparrow1]

HAHAHA!! "making outer space even more crammed with useless junk"!!! HAHAHA!! Amanda, do you realize that outer space is the biggest thing there is? Categorically the largest thing possible. Unfathomably large. Infinite. Sparse. It is the least "crammed" thing of all. You cannot cram it. I dare you to try. Very amusing.

[AmandaBC]

"HAHAHA!! Amanda, do you realize that outer space is the biggest thing there is?"

Do you know what a low orbit is? Evidently not...

[sparrow1]

space cannot be crammed. you shouldn't have skipped science class.

[AmandaBC]

I think you skipped a lot of lessons, especially those concerned with the gravitational pull of a low orbit, where the stuff is dumped. It's not like they will launch the rocket past the moon. You know, the moon, that body that's kept there by earth's gravitation force? Here's a hint: anything dumped a few miles in outer space will never leave the earth's gravitational field... Naaaaah, you obviously skipped the whole thing...

[brynnrose thorn]

Space, says the introduction to "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy," is big. Really Big. You just can't believe how hugely, vastly, mind-bogglingly big it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUQGYMvI5sk

[bsc]

thank you for quoting The Guide! Awesome. They will be floating around the Whole General Mish Mash forever...

[SaucyB]

from the website:
"Celestis spacecraft are carefully designed so as not to create orbital debris. Each spacecraft stays permanently attached to a rocket stage that orbits Earth until the spacecraft harmlessly re-enters and is completely consumed by Earth’s atmosphere — blazing like a shooting star in final tribute to the passengers aboard. "

[mlaiuppa]

What has taken so long? I thought he was already launched. Were they delaying until she died?

Didn't Doohan (Scottie) already get launched?

[brynnrose thorn]

I think she's following after.

[lwaxanatroi]

At this point in time, it's kind of a good thing to wait until someone dies to launch them into space.

[nolabels]

I love it!!! Gene Roddenberry predicted more about the future and understood more about morality than, arguably, any body to have ever lived. He definitely makes my 5 people to talk with list. I have to say though, if I were to be shot into outer-space, I would not want my remains to be burnt. I would keep my genetic information as cleanly intact as possible so that somebody out there could possibly learn about our race. Maybe that's just me.

[lynjs]

Going where no man and woman has gone before.....