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.

Religious aspects

Most religions do not provide special instructions for space burial due to the procedure being only a recent development, and only around 150 people have been buried in space so far. As only a small portion of the remains are buried, a regular funeral and burial ceremony can be performed according to the beliefs of the deceased, and only a small part of the remains are diverted into space. Due to the infrequency of the flights, the sample of the remains have to be stored until the next launch. Also, not all religions allow the bodies of deceased to be cremated, as is often done in space burial.

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It should be noted that at least one service for burial in space was planned. As part of the contingency plans for the Apollo 11 mission, if the astronauts were unable to return from the lunar landing, a funeral service would be held for them on earth, similar to the service for burial at sea, with references to the ocean omitted and replaced with "the deepest of the deep."

Related Topics:
Apollo 11 - Burial at sea

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