The Ashes of Star Trek’s James Doohan Have Secretly Been Orbiting the Earth for 12 Years
A secret mission, a dash of smuggling, and an out-of-this-world final resting spot for one of science fiction’s most iconic engineers.
After 12 years of discretion, the Times of London recently revealed that back in 2008, Richard Garriot—who was one of the first private citizens to travel to the International Space Station—secretly smuggled some of James Doohan’s ashes aboard the ISS, where they’ve been resting (or boldly going, if you will) ever since. Doohan, who most famously portrayed the Enterprise‘s chief engineer, Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, in Star Trek, died in 2005 at the age of 85.
Official requests to send his ashes to the ISS were initially denied, which is why Garriot, along with the blessing of Doohan’s family, decided to do it himself. He hid the ashes, along with a laminated photo of Doohan, under the floor of the space station’s Columbus module. Since then, according to the Times, Doohan’s ashes have circled the Earth more 70,000 times.
A recent view over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile from the International Space Station. NASA
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About the Author
Joe Praska
Joe is an elementary-school teacher in Minneapolis with a particular excitement for teaching science. He began to dabble in writing and blogging in 2013 and has spiraled further and further down the rabbit hole ever since.
