James Doohan, the actor who played the chief engineer of the original Starship Enterprise died Wednesday at the age of 85. And now his ashes will be blasted into the final frontier.
His remains will be "beamed up" by a company called Space Services Inc. which has ties with commercial launch organizations. The company previously sent the ashes of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry into space, as well as 1960s acid guru Timothy Leary.
A few grams of Doohan's ashes will be aboard the Falcon 1 rocket launching in September from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. Also on the flight will be the ashes of Star Trek writer John Meredyth Lucas, who died in 2002. The remains of both men will be sealed in an aluminum capsule and will eventually burn up when they re-enter Earth's atmosphere.
Definitely the perfect burial for the chief engineer who saved the Enterprise weekly from warp drive and shield failure, collisions, sabotage, explosions, transporting meltdowns, tribble invasions, and Klingon attacks. Farewell...
