SpaceX launch: Rocket containing ashes of 100 people sent into space

In a unique application of commercial space flight, people are launching the cremated remains of their loved ones into a satellite that will orbit the earth.

Companies including Elysium Space and Celestis offer their customers the poetic opportunity to send the ashes of dead people (and at least one dog) to travel among the stars.

In 2012, the Falcon 9, a rocket from Elon Musk’s company SpaceX, carried a secondary payload of 308 sets of ashes while delivering supplies to a space station.

Families had each sent a gram of ashes to the company Celestis and reserved a space in a capsule in the rocket. The ashes included those of an astronaut and of James Doohan, an actor who played Scotty on Star Trek: The Original Series.

At approximately 1.32pm EST on Monday, Falcon 9 will launch again, carrying a collection of payloads, travelling together as an extraterrestrial “ride-share.”

One of the 64 companies that bought a space on the rocket was Elysium Space. This company put the ashes of 100 people in the payload to send “shooting star memorials” into the sky. Each memorial costs $2,490.

“The Shooting Star Memorial is a service that delivers a symbolic portion of your loved one's remains to Earth's orbit, only to end this celestial journey as a shooting star.

This poetic tribute offers you the opportunity to have a permanent memorial that is with you each and every night, the starry sky above,” the company writes on their website.

The capsule will be too small to see from earth, but families will be able to track the satellite for years on their phones. Eventually, everything will burn up in the atmosphere.