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Into final frontier go remains of about 200
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 29, 2007
UPHAM, N.M. - The cremated remains of actor James Doohan, who portrayed engineer "Scotty" on Star Trek, and of Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper soared into suborbital space Saturday aboard a rocket. It was the first successful launch from Spaceport America, a commercial spaceport being developed in the southern New Mexico desert. Suzan Cooper and Wende Doohan fired the rocket carrying small amounts of their husbands' ashes, and those of about 200 others. Since it was a suborbital flight, the rocket soon parachuted back to Earth, coming down at the White Sands Missile Range. Family members paid $495 to place a few grams of their relatives' ashes on the rocket. Celestis, a Houston company, contracted with UP Aerospace Inc. to send the cremated remains into space. Wende Doohan, of Renton, Wash., said her husband sought a space ride for his remains after Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's remains were launched in 1997. James Doohan died in July 2005 at age 85. Kathy Allums' uncle, James Roach, wanted his remains flown to space. She said, "It's exactly what he would have wanted."
[Last modified April 29, 2007, 01:17:10]
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