According to Reuters, “Actor James Doohan, who played the starship Enterprise’s chief engineer Scotty on “Star Trek,” finally made it to space on Saturday as a rocket with some of his ashes was launched in New Mexico.”

Scotty wasn’t alone on his final space voyage, he was launched ”along with the remains of some 200 other people, including astronaut Gordon Cooper, who first went into space in 1963. Cooper died in 2004 at age 77.”

photo courtesy of Apropos of Something

James Doohan died two years ago, at the age of 85. As Mitchell previously pointed out, the phrase “Beam me up, Scotty!” was never uttered on Star Trek, yet how many of us will always think of it when we think of James/Scotty?

Evidently Scotty was not the first Trekkie to make this final voyage, “In 1997, the company blasted the remains of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry into space.”

If having a portion of your ashes launched into space holds a huge appeal for you, then you might be surprised to learn that it is relatively affordable. According to the article, “The flight was arranged by Houston-based company Space Services Inc. The company charges $495 (248 pounds) to send a portion of a person’s ashes into suborbital space.” After the capsules containing the ashes have been launched to a height of 72 miles, they “are retrieved, mounted on plaques and given back to relatives.”

You can read the entire article here.