Actor’s Ashes Will Be Blasted Into Space
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The ashes of James Doohan, who played chief engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott on the original “Star Trek” TV series, have been loaded into a rocket that is set to launch in New Mexico later this month.
The remains of Doohan, Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper, and about 200 others were loaded into the rocket Friday by Charles Chafer, chief executive of Celestis, a Texas company that contracts with rocket firms to send cremated remains into space.
Jerry Larson, president of Connecticut-based UP Aerospace Inc., said the rocket would be launched April 28.
Doohan died in July 2005 at age 85.
