The countdown had been proceeding smoothly since January of last year, when former Astronaut Donald (Deke) Slayton announced that Houston-based Space Services, his private rocket-launching company, would soon begin sending aloft the cremated remains of customers who want to be buried in space. He said that for a fee of $3,900, the deceased would be reduced to an ounce or less of ash and placed in a 2-in. by 5/8-in. aluminum capsule. A drum containing 5,000 of the capsules would then be shot into orbit in a Conestoga II rocket.
But Slayton's venture has run into a glitch. The State of...
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