Scotty's ashes get new launch date

James Doohan heads for the stars

By Lucy Sherriff • Get more from this author

Posted in Science, 25th July 2006 13:41 GMT

Free whitepaper – SPECjbb2005 performance and power consumption on Dell, HP, and IBM blade servers

The ashes of actor James Doohan, better known as Star Trek's Scotty, will be sent up into space in October, just over a year after they were originally supposed to leave Earth.

The actor died last July from Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia.

His wife Wende said it was his life's ambition to go to space. She issued a statement last July saying: ""He finally gets his wish, I can't think of a more fitting send-off than having some of his fans attend this, his final journey," the BBC reports.

Fans and family will hold a ceremony on the day of the launch, to pay tribute to the actor.

The ashes of Star Trek writer John Meredyth Lucas are scheduled to be on the same flight. Series creator Gene Roddenberry also had his ashes sent into orbit when he died.

The original flight was cancelled, pending further testing. We only hope the engineers involved told launch controllers that it was because they "couldnae change the laws of physics".

RIP, Scotty, RIP. ®

Free whitepaper – Dell PowerEdge servers product guide