Navajo Nation Calls for Delay of Missions To Send Human Remains to the Moon, Citing Religious Concerns

With one rocket to the moon having launched early Monday morning and another scheduled in the coming weeks, the Navajo Nation is seeking help from the White House in its attempt to intervene with the private moon landing, citing religious objections to two companies’ plan to leave human remains on the moon.The portion of the cargo being sent to the moon that the tribe objects to is the partial, cremated remains of nearly 70 people. The companies, Elysium Space and Celestis, offer customers the opportunity to send their loved ones’ remains to the moon and to create a “permanent memorial” for $12,995.In a statement Friday, the president of the Navajo Nation, Buu Nygren, said that the “placement of human remains on the moon is a profound desecration of this celestial body revered by our people.”“The moon holds a sacred place in Navajo cosmology,” Mr. Nygren said. “The suggestion of transforming it into a resting place for human remains is deeply disturbing and unacceptable to our people and many other tribal nations.”Mr. Nygren cites past agreements between NASA and the Navajo Nation, under which NASA agreed to consult with the nation on the issue after the 1998 Lunar Prospector mission, when NASA sent the remains of a planetary geologist, Eugene Shoemaker, to the moon.In his statement, Mr. Nygren said he was hoping that the launch would be delayed and that the tribe could consult with the companies launching the ashes.“I stand by the position that both NASA and the USDOT should have conducted consultations with Indigenous tribes before contracting with or issuing payload certificates for missions that involve the transport of human remains to the moon,” Mr. Nygren said.The first of the two rockets set to land on the moon, Peregrin, was launched at 2:18 a.m. Monday by Astrobiotic. Since launch, the spacecraft has encountered technical problems that keep the craft from pointing its solar panels stably at the Sun, as well as “a critical loss in fuel.”The fuel loss “threatens the ability of the spacecraft to soft land on the moon,” the company said in a statement, adding that it is “assessing what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time.”Should it be successful, the mission would be the first American moon landing in more than 50 years and the first ever moon landing by a private company.The White House had responded to the Navajo Nation’s concerns by scheduling a meeting to discuss the topic on Friday. Although the Navajo Nation was not able to delay the launch or have the human remains removed, a spokesman for the tribe, Justin Ahasteen, tells the Sun that they are working with NASA to “ensure that federal funds for any launch do not support sending human remains to the moon.”The moon features prominently in Navajo culture, cosmology, and religion and is considered a living deity in the Navajo religion, according to Mr. Ahasteen.“We don’t tolerate trash defiling places like the Grand Canyon or Bears Ears, held sacred by many who live close and respected by millions more worldwide. Why should the moon be different? Mr. Ahasteen said that he thinks NASA should be permitted to “pull their funding and payload from future launches if human remains are a part of that cargo.” Mr. Ahasteen added that it “is our position that NASA should have consulted with tribes before agreeing to contract with a company that will transport human remains to the moon, even if NASA is not itself responsible for that decision.”In a press call on Thursday, the NASA deputy associate administrator for exploration, Joel Kearns, said that the agency takes the concerns of the Navajo Nation “very, very seriously,” though it has little power over what private companies do.“Those communities may not understand that these missions are commercial, and they’re not U.S. government missions,” Mr. Kearns said. “American companies bringing equipment and cargo and payloads to the moon is a totally new industry … where everyone is learning, as we have set this up in the past few years, how it’s going to operate.”In recent years, NASA has been outsourcing more of its programs to private companies, which bid on delivering payloads and performing experiments on NASA’s behalf as the agency prepares for future human missions. NASA is sending five payloads on the mission in question. Neither Elysium Space nor Celestis immediately responded to a request for comment.

Navajo Nation Calls for Delay of Missions To Send Human Remains to the Moon, Citing Religious Concerns

Navajo Nation Calls for Delay of Missions To Send Human Remains to the Moon, Citing Religious Concerns

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