Space burial

Space burial is a burial procedure where a small sample of the cremated ashes of the deceased in a lipstick sized capsule are launched into space using a rocket. As of 2004, samples of about 150 people have been "buried" in space.

Fictional characters buried in space

In science fiction, dead characters are sometimes buried in space, by analogy to the naval tradition of burial at sea.

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• Captain Spock, fictional character from Star Trek, was buried in a photon torpedo and fired onto the rapidly forming Genesis planet, which initiated his rebirth
• Captain Future, hero of the Edmond Hamilton stories with the same name, received a space burial. However, later it turns out that Captain Future is still alive, and a Doppelgänger has been buried instead.
• Ovaron, a character of the Perry Rhodan series, is buried in space in Volume 722: "A Message for Ovaron".
• Breckcrown Hayes, a character of the Perry Rhodan series, is buried in space in Volume 1048: "Atlan's Return".
• Frank Poole, in ', although he is revived by science in '.
• A space burial for Phillip J. Fry, delivery boy, appears in Futurama episode The Sting, but only in another character's extended dream sequence.
• Phillip J. Fry, first person on Mars in Futurama episode The Luck of the Fryrish. Named after his uncle, listed above. However, note that his burial was in a conventional graveyard in a space station named Orbiting Meadows National Cemetary.
• Lieutenant John Kelly, a minor character on '. He was the commander of the ill-fated Ares 4 mission to Mars. Lieutenant Kelly disappeared on October 19, 2032, captured by a graviton ellipse and died on board his spacecraft on October 25th. Kelly's body was retrieved by the crew of the USS Voyager and buried in space circa stardate 53301.2 in 2376.
• Numerous other Star Trek characters have also been buried in space.
• Christopher "Maverick" Blair, in the original Wing Commander, is given a space burial if killed during a mission.
• Kane, from the movie Alien is buried in space, being the first human killed by the creature.
• In Babylon 5 multiple characters are given space burials by having their caskets sent into a star. (Quote: "From the stars we came, to the stars we return. We commit this body to the deep.")
• S.R. Hadden, owner of Hadden Industries is buried in space after dying of Cancer on Mir in the film Contact. This is different from the book the movie is adapted from. In the book, Hadden is not terminally ill and voluntarily chooses to leave earth in a space-bound "casket" while still alive. The "casket" is actually a small spacecraft capable of leaving Earth orbit for deep space, although the lack of any kind of superluminal propulsion means Hadden will undergo cryogenic hibernation to allow him to survive the thousands of years needed to cover interstellar distances.
• The entire crew of Red Dwarf following the radiation disaster (unseen). The first burial shown on the show was George McIntyre.
• Dizzy Flores, a character from Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers, is buried in space with full military honors after dying from a bug attack.
• A military space funeral parlor is depicted in Enemy Mine in which human remains from Human-Drac wars are routinely and irreverently disposed of.