Space Burials: The World’s Latest Trend

A startup company called Elysium Space is promising to send the remains of dead relatives into space and is even provide the ability to track them in orbit. Once someone passes away, there is just a four step process between death and orbit according to Elysium. First, the family members receive a kit from Elysium, then they package the remains, send it back to the company and voila, they are sent into Earth’s orbit.

Once the cremated remains of someone are sent into space via a spacecraft, they will stay in orbit for several months and will be trackable with the Elysium app for smartphones. This will allow family members to know where the person’s remains are at any given time and once the spacecraft is ready to come back down to Earth, they can witness that as well.

Surprisingly, Elysium is not the only company offering this type of unique burial. Celestis has been on the scene for a while providing a similar burial process, however, they only send remains into zero-gravity before returning to Earth. Since Celestis costs $6,000 people are better off going with Elysium Space’s offer.

The first spacecraft to carry off customer remains will take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida next year. Elysium Space‘s website reads, “”Elysium Space offers awe-inspring celestial services to honor and celebrate the life of someone you love.”

Depending on which flight the remains end up on, they will either be in orbit for months or perhaps years. However, there is little guarantee for a long flight provided by Elysium. According to their website, they have fulfilled their duty as long as you receive one full orbit around Earth before re-entering the atmosphere.

With the average funeral now costing an absurd $6,000 some people may find this celestial trip intriguing especially for those of you that already have a fascination with space.