Elysium Space Offers to Send Departed's Ashes into Space

With organizations offering people a chance to set up human colonies on Mars and bid a final goodbye to Earth there are other companies too that are offering to quench man's never ending desire to travel into the outer space.

A new San Francisco based start-up company, Elysium Space, is offering memorial spaceflights to launch cremated remains into space. The family members can track the journey through the stars via a free mobile app.  This special technique to honor the death of a loved one can be achieved in less than $2,000.

Founded by ex -NASA engineer Thomas Civeit, the company Elysium Space derives its name from the Greek mythology afterlife realm 'Elysium', where the righteous and the heroic remain after death to live a blessed and happy life.

"These are the kind of people who think space is a unique and beautiful place," said Civeit, who while at NASA helped maintain the Hubble Telescope. 

The services will be launched next year from the Cape Canaveral launch facility, Florida.

On booking a spaceflight for your loved one, the company will send across a kit that has a custom ash capsule to collect the cremated remains.  The capsule will then be placed in the Elysuim spacecraft that will be carry it to the space. Family members can chose to have three characters engraved on the cap of the capsule. In addition to this they can engrave a message on the spacecraft's metal plates.

The memorial spacecraft will be launched along with a big scientific or commercial satellite and it may  orbit the Earth for a few months or several years  before burning out.. As the memorial spacecraft orbits the earth with the ashes, the journey can be followed by family members on Elysium's iphone app.

According to IBT reports, Celestis is another company that offers space burials similar to Elysium. The only difference is the price at which they offer this service. Celestis offers a space flight for a higher price of $5,000, they also have cheaper packages for just $995.

The Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek actor James Scotty Doohan had notable memorial spaceflights on Celestis.

If you want to give a special farewell to your departed one you can check here for bookings.