Scotty is joining astronaut Gordon Cooper, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, and space cadet Timothy Leary beyond the Earth's grasp, where few men have gone before.
Actor James Doohan, who played engineer Scotty on Star Trek's Enterprise, died last July of Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia at 85 and was scheduled to have had his ashes blasted into orbit last year, but the flight was delayed due to tests and tinkering — Scotty style — with the Space Services, Inc. rocket scheduled to bear the poignant load - no unfortunate incidents with famous ashes, please.
Everything is squared away now and a dehydrated Doohan will finally make the trip into space on October 21 from Spaceport America, a new launching facility near Las Cruces, N.M., along with the earthly remains of over 100 other travelers including Cooper.
The "Legacy Flight" service, according to the Space Services site, "affordably launches a symbolic portion of cremated remains to space, and after experiencing the zero gravity environment, returns the individual flight capsules and modules back to Earth," where the individual capsules are recovered, validated as having reached space, and "returned to the family or loved one as a keepsake." The capsule is then mounted on a plaque.
A public memorial service honoring Doohan, Cooper, and all of the participants of the Legacy Flight will be held on October 20th at a location near the launch site.
And since Doohan was such a space enthusiast, his ashy plaque, apparently, will also go up again in early '07 on the "Explorers Flight," going into orbit around the earth for several years before REALLY, no kidding, burning up upon reentry.
Fans can post tribute messages for Doohan, and these messages will be put on disc and included with the payload on the Explorers Flight.
Doohan's widow, Wende, said the actor would have "given almost anything to be able to actually go into space" in a letter to fans posted on the Space Services website. "He finally gets his wish, I can't think of a more fitting send-off than having some of his fans attend this, his final journey," she wrote.
Article comments
1 - Victor Lana
Fantastic news, Eric! If anyone deserves to be "beamed up" it is Doohan. By the way, that picture of Scotty with the bottle reminds of one of my famous episodes (when he finally out-drinks the alien).
In the final scene of a later movie (I don't recall which one), Kirk tells Chekov to get underway. Chekov asks him what course to plot, and Kirk motions to the vast reaches of space and says, "Out there."
Sadly, one day they will be all out there and perhaps know the secrets Star Trek made me dream about as a boy.
2 - duane
I would imagine that Scotty and others would have preferred to have their ashes scattered through space. Is there any reason that can't be done?
3 - Jet in Columbus
BEAM ME UP STOTTY!!! THERE'S NO INTELLIGENT LIFE DOWN HERE...PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!
4 - Ray Ellis
His name was James Doohan, not Scotty.Scotty was a character he played. But Duane, how would you be privy as to how he would want his remains treated?
5 - Jet in Columbus
Picky picky picky ray, like James Doohan isn't the same as Scotty. Like Raymond Burr and Perry Mason.
6 - Ray Ellis
Granted. But it is presumptious to assume a fan can second-guesss a family's wishes in regards to a deceased's wishes.
Sorry. I've just deal with a lot of death in my life.
7 - duane
Ray, I didn't mean to imply that I knew anything about the wishes of Doohan and his family. I was just asking a more general kind of question. Having your ashes released into space might be a 21st century version of having your ashes dumped into the ocean.
Amd I figured that since the title includes the name "Scotty," that it wasn't necessarily disrespectful to refer to him that way. Yes?
8 - Eric Olsen
Obviously Scotty does not = Doohan, but rarely has an actor been so identified with one role, to his chagrin and eventual acceptance (it is said).
But anyway, I agree dusting space would be cooler