George Washington, John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan are among the luminaries in the ensemble.
The former presidents of the United States are getting ready for their last trip to the final frontier after a company revealed plans to send samples of their hair into space on a hair raising journey instead of their actual, long-dead bodies.
George Washington, John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan are among the luminaries in the ensemble.
The plan of hair raising journey was revealed on Monday, which is Presidents’ Day in the United States. Celestis, a Texas-based business that specializes in space burials, made the announcement. Later this year, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) rocket will, according to Celestis, launch “what we believe to be authenticated DNA” of the former presidents into space.
Some of the cremated remains of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and other cast members from the groundbreaking 1960s television series will also be on board the flight, dubbed “Enterprise.” In the science fiction program, the USS Enterprise had the goal of “going boldly where no man has gone before.”
According to Celestis, the four former presidents’ hair samples came with certificates of authenticity and were a gift from an unidentified donor. It claimed that Louis Mushro, a “celebrity hair collector and appraiser” from Michigan who passed away in 2014, was the source of their initial acquisition.
As part of the mission’s preparation, these hair samples have been kept in a climate-controlled space for several years, according to a statement from Celestis.
Charles Chafer, co-founder and CEO of Celestis, said that by incorporating these American icons’ DNA into Enterprise, “we establish a precursor for future human missions and add to the historical record of human exploration of deep space.”
The ULA Vulcan rocket is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the coming months on its inaugural flight with the hair samples and thimble-sized capsules of cremated remains.
The ULA rocket will launch the payload of hair samples and other materials into deep space after deploying two satellites and sending a private lunar lander to the Moon.
It was “a tremendous honour to work with Celestis to launch these four esteemed U.S. presidents on our Vulcan launch vehicle,” according to ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno. On its initial “Founders Flight” rocket launch in 1997, Celestis placed some of Roddenberry’s ashes in orbit around the planet.
The Houston-based company currently charges $4,995 to launch relics into Earth orbit, and it starts charging $12,500 to travel into deep space past the Moon.