The ashes of Star Trek actor James Doohan, who died on Wednesday, are to be sent into space at his request. Doohan, who was 85, played engineer Scotty in the original sci-fi series. He died of pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease at his home in Washington. His agent said Doohan and his wife Wende had discussed sending his ashes into space, following those of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.
The Space Services Inc company said Doohan's ashes could be on a Falcon 1 rocket launching from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, tentatively scheduled for launch in September. The ashes of Star Trek writer John Meredyth Lucas, who died in 2002, are also set to be on the flight. From the BBC
on star trek
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Thinking of Heinlein's "Requiem" written in 1939 and still one of my all time best SF short stories - along with Asimov's "Nightfall".
Harriman's final resting place was lying in his space suit in the lunar vacuum, illuminated by the light of the rising earth. Heinlein had a sea burial.
Burial Place: Ashes scattered into the Pacific Ocean near Santa Cruz.
http://www.nitrosyncretic.com/rah/rahfaq.html
But the star trekkers go boldy forth
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Heinlein's "Requiem"
"The Man Who Sold the Moon" 1950
A businessman decides to realize his dream of space travel by taking steps himself to make it a commercial possibility. — If in our real sub-lunar world, there is one man who arguably did more than any other to educate and persuade the American public about Luna and space travel, that man is Heinlein himself. Robert A. Heinlein truly may be called The Man Who Sold the Moon. Short novel; first published in the collection The Man Who Sold the Moon. Sequel is "Requiem", below.
"Requiem" 1939
A short but moving follow-up to "The Man Who Sold the Moon", set years later.
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the future history series
http://www.troynovant.com/Franson/Heinlein/Future-History.html
Heinlein biography
http://members.aol.com/agplusone/robert_a._heinlein_a_biogr.htm
Heinlein prize
http://www.heinleinprize.com/rah/onspace.htm
Delos D. Harriman: Business tycoon who inspired and largely funded many space-related endeavors, including the first trip to the moon. Harriman is mentioned indirectly in most of the Future History stories, mostly in businesses and institutions bearing his name. In "Requiem", he secretly financed a moon rocket to take him personally to the Moon, launching in spite of legal attempts to stop him; and died shortly after landing on the lunar surface.
Harriman Scholarships: is mentioned as a program financed by his investments in lunar companies. http://www.heinleinsociety.org/concordance/books/req_hc.html
