The remains of four American presidents are set to be fired into space as part of a scheme to create a “cosmic time capsule”.
Celestis has announced the DNA of founder George Washington will be sent into solar orbit along with Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.
The US-based firm says the move will establish the first “human outpost in deep space”, as well as aiming to create an off-world genetic and data storage.
Also aboard the United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket will be the remains of several stars of the original Star Trek series, including DeForest Kelley (Dr McCoy), Nichelle Nichols (Lt Uhura) and creator Gene Rodenberry.
Fittingly, the rocket has been nicknamed the Enterprise Flight.
A press release by the firm said: “ In keeping with the idea that ancient DNA can tell scientists how we evolved, the DNA of these presidents can tell future civilizations that may settle in deep space more about bygone American leaders and culture, even providing a sort of evolutionary “map” as to how the U.S. started (under Washington) and flourished (under later presidents including Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Reagan).
“In addition, let’s return to the idea of DNA as data storage. Off-world DNA storage allows the human genome to be preserved for thousands of years in space without degradation. “This means it is possible it could be discovered later, like a cosmic “time capsule.”
"This could allow future generations to learn more about the U.S. forefathers millennia into the future.
“DNA could be a long-term data storage solution that could eliminate or make scarce bulkier forms of storage – and in addition, this thinking opens the possibility of off-world DNA storage, just waiting to be discovered by future human civilizations (or even possibly alien civilizations).
“Enter the idea of sending the genetic information of four iconic American presidents – George Washington, Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, and Dwight D. Eisenhower – into a solar orbit, where they will become part of the world’s first human outpost in deep space.”
JFK's seat aboard the flight is apt, given as he was the president who pledged to land on the moon, saying in May 1961: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."
He was assassinated in 1963, six years before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon's surface aboard Apollo 11.
Members of the public can arrange for their own ashes to be blasted into space- although prices start at around £2,000.
The release added: “Enterprise Flight will establish a solar orbit 150 to 300 million miles in deep space, becoming the world’s first true outpost of humanity in the cosmos with its memorial spaceflights.
“The presence of four iconic U.S. presidents on its manifest is only the beginning of what will be a journey for the ages.
“This flight will indeed go into the history books, and thanks to the DNA presence of historical figures, the Enterprise Flight’s story won’t just end with its entry into a solar orbit.”
