Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, died of a heart attack at the age of 70 in a Santa Monica hospital on October 25th, 1991 — but after death, he was able to boldly go where few men had ever gone before.
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00:00Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, was pronounced dead at the age of 70 in a
00:05Santa Monica hospital on October 24th, 1991.
00:09While the original series he created was canceled after just three seasons, the writer and producer
00:14had conceived a beloved world that launched a massive franchise.
00:18Roddenberry spent a huge part of his life writing about space, but he never had the
00:22chance to go there, so he specified in his will that he wanted his ashes blasted into
00:26outer space when the opportunity arose.
00:29In 1994, his widow, Star Trek actor Majel Roddenberry, told the 31st Space Congress,
00:35"...he would have given anything to have been able, just once, to go into that great galaxy
00:40he dreamed about, where so few men have gone before.
00:43It was not possible."
00:44His dream may not have come true in life, though in death, it's been fulfilled more
00:48than once.
00:49The first time was on October 22nd, 1992, on board the space shuttle Columbia.
00:55The ten-day mission saw the launch of an Italian satellite from the shuttle and a variety
00:59of experiments, including the testing of a robotic vision system.
01:03Unbeknownst to the world at large, there was a stowaway of sorts on Columbia's 13th mission.
01:09At the behest of Majel Roddenberry, NASA Administrator Dan Golden agreed to help her to fulfill Gene's
01:14dream of traveling in space.
01:16Since human remains weren't exactly standard space cargo, mission commander James Weatherby
01:21brought some of Gene Roddenberry's ashes on the mission as part of his personal effects.
01:25It was the first time in NASA's history that someone's ashes went on a space mission.
01:30The shuttle safely returned to Earth, along with Roddenberry's ashes.
01:34Gene Roddenberry's ashes took flight again in April of 1997 after a new company, Celestis,
01:40approached Majel Roddenberry about including her husband's ashes in its inaugural flight.
01:45The Houston, Texas-based business was the first to offer space burials.
01:49Celestis sent 0.2 ounces of Gene Roddenberry's ashes into space, along with those of 23 other
01:55people from all walks of life, including pilots, scientists, Star Trek fans, and even LSD luminary
02:02Timothy Leary.
02:03The rocket carrying his and the others' remains orbited the Earth for five years before burning
02:07up during reentry.
02:08Celestis again launched a portion of the ashes of Gene into space in January 2024, this time
02:14alongside the ashes of his wife, who had died in 2008.
02:18They weren't alone.
02:19In addition to many Star Trek fans and space enthusiasts, the ashes of three other Star
02:24Trek actors joined them.
02:25DeForest Kelly, Michelle Nichols, and James Doohan were also headed into deep space.
02:31When the rocket reaches its final destination 185 million miles from Earth, it will be in
02:36a heliocentric orbit circling the sun between Earth and Venus forever.
02:40Appropriately, the flight was christened Enterprise on a rocket named Vulcan.
02:45Humans are capable of so much more than we yet understand.
02:49We're really something.
02:51Star Trek fans believe that.
02:53And so do I.