Thursday, August 18, 2005

Aussies join the ash blast



Four poor dead Aussies are joining the cargo of 120 sets of ashes, that will blast from a rocket into outer space. They're joining the ashes of Star Trek's Scotty and one of the world's first astronauts.

The Australians paid $1300 each to have their ashes placed in a rocket and ejected into orbit hundreds of kilometres above the planet.

They will be sharing space with the remains of actor James Doohan who played Scotty, John Meredyth Lucas who wrote, directed and produced the Star Trek series, and one of the original Mercury astronauts, believed to be Gordon Cooper who once flew 5.4 million km around the Earth in 190 days on Gemini 5.

Texas company Space Services Inc. will launch the ashes from a Falcon rocket. Susan Schonfeld said yesterday more than a dozen Aussies had signed to have their ashes sent into orbit.

Ms. Schonfeld said hundreds of Star Trek fans were expected at the October launch at Vandenberg Air Force base in California, with many dressing up as characters from the series.

She said security concerns would prevent fans from watching the launch from inside the base.

One hundred Klingons on a military base was going to be problematic, she said.

For the record, I love my Australian readers!! A corker of friends!

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