Star Trek's Scotty boldly goes where he always wanted to

[FarCenter]

Elon Musk's Dragon spaceship that successfully took off this morning was carrying extra special secret cargo: Star Trek's Chief Engineer Scott.

The Falcon 9 rocket, which launched the privately funded SpaceX craft containing supplies and science experiments for the International Space Station, also took up the ashes of actor James Doohan - who played Scotty in the hit sci-fi saga.

The remains of Doohan, who died in 2005 aged 85, were among those of more than 300 people who wanted their final resting place to be among the stars, ABC's Good Morning America reported.

Charles Chafer, chief exec of Space Services, confirmed the contents of the special cargo on his Facebook page, saying: "So much for our secret launch." Space Services is the parent company to Celestis, which specialises in memorial spaceflights.

Celestis put the ashes of Doohan, the cremated remains of Mercury programme astronaut Gordon Cooper and 306 other people's ashes in a container in the second stage component of the Falcon 9 rocket. When this detaches, it will orbit the Earth for about a year before disintegrating on reentry.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/22/scotty_ashes_dragon/

[CottonBear]

1. Wonderful! n/t

[pokerfan]

2. I thought he got sent up years ago...

Never mind. That was sub-orbital.

http://www.memorialspaceflights.com/legacyFlight.asp

[TheDebbieDee]

7. I thought so, too..........

[progressoid]

3. Cool. I'm watching Star Trek right now!

[thelordofhell]

4. His right middle finger will still be in Normandy

It was shot off by friendly fire on D-Day in WWII, his cigarette case blocked a shot to his heart that would have killed him. He was part of the Canadian forces that stormed the beaches.

[hfojvt]

5. huh

and they say smoking is bad for your health

[Kaleva]

6. Here's a pic

[Permanut]

8. Atta boy, Scotty! Let's see Spock do that one!

[HeiressofBickworth]

9. My granddaughter wants to be an astronaut

She thinks the program will start up again and then she can go to Mars. She promise me that if she does, she will take my ashes (or at least a part) with her.