Scotty - Doohan's Launched into SPACE Successful!
The ashes of actor James Doohan, who played Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott "Scotty" on Star Trek were rocketed into space on Saturday, April 27.
It was the first successful launch from Spaceport America, a commercial spaceport being developed in the southern New Mexico desert. Also included in the space launch were the cremated remains of Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper.
Wende Doohan, the actor's wife, and Suzan Cooper fired the rocket carrying small amounts of their husbands' ashes, and those of about 200 others, around 9:00 a.m.
Since it was a suborbital flight, the rocket soon parachuted back to Earth, coming down at the White Sands Missile Range.
Family members paid $495 to place a few grams of their relatives' ashes on the rocket. Celestis, a Houston company, contracted with UP to send the cremated remains into space.
About 4 miles away from the launch site, family and friends cheered as they watched the 20-foot rocket take off.
Doohan wanted his ashes sent into space after he saw the remains of Gene Roddenberry, who created Star Trek, were launched in 1997.
Doohan died in July 2005 at age 85.
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