Will you send your loved one's ashes into space for $2,500?

A San Francisco-based Elysium Space company which describes itself as a "memorial spaceflight" company, which is made of former NASA personnel and funeral experts, is planning to send the ashes of dead people into orbit. The company said that it plans to book  a flight on one of Elon Musk's SpaceX rockets.
The business aims to "change the vision of death from the underground to the celestial."

"For about 2 years, our memorial spacecraft will respectfully and peacefully orbit the Earth," Elysium Space CEO Thomas Civeit, told CNBC. "Eventually, in a last poetic moment, the spacecraft will harmlessly re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, blazing as a shooting star."

Each customer who signs up with the company will receive a kit containing a custom ash capsule to collect the cremated remains of their loved one. This is then sent back to Elysium Space and is placed in the company's spacecraft. This will then be launched into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Family and friends can follow the progress of the spacecraft with an Apple iOS or Google Android app.

So far the company has 100 participants booked and each reservation starts at $2,490.

The launch date hasn't been set yet, but when it does, it will take place at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.



Source: CNBC