Four well-known American presidents are going to space. At least their DNA will be.
Celestis announced on President's Day that the DNA of presidents George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Regan are destined to be among the stars, along with famous 'Star Trek' legends and science fiction superstars.
The presidents' DNA is set for launch sometime in 2023, though Celestis has yet to give a specific date for the launch.
Celestis Memorial Launch Details
Celestis mentioned in its announcement that they would launch hair samples from the four presidents to deep space, samples that previously belonged to the Louis Mushro collection. An anonymous donor gifted the samples and certificates to Celestis to be included in a deep space mission.
For those unaware, Louis Mushro was a well-known celebrity hair collector and appraiser who established a world-renowned reputation as the expert in his respective field before his passing in 2014. The anonymous donor kept the hair samples in a climate-controlled facility for several years in preparation for the launch.
The company will launch the samples into space along with their associated Certificates of Authenticity to deep space in 2023 on its Enterprise Flight mission. According to a Space.com article, the mission will utilize a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket to travel from 93 million miles to 186 million miles into deep space and beyond the Earth-moon system.
Celestis mentioned it is sending the DNA of the four American presidents in honor of Presidents' Day, an event held on Feb. 20. Interestingly, the four presidents' samples would become humanity's first deep space time capsule and the first time any American president has gone to space in any fashion, symbolically or otherwise, in history.
Charles M. Chafer, co-founder and CEO of Celestis, said that its Enterprise Flight is "an historic mission by any standard," and that the company's goal is to assist human expansion throughout the solar system, providing a "precursor" for future human missions and add to the historical record of human exploration of deep space.
A Journey Fit For The Stars
The samples are joined by over 200 flight capsules containing cremated ash remains, DNA material, personal messages, and heartfelt greetings from international clients, along with two Amazon satellites that would help complete its Project Kuiper satellite constellation.
These flight capsules also include the cremated remains and DNA samples of "Star Trek" legends Nichelle Nichols, Deforest Kelley, series creator Gene Roddenberry and his wife Majel Barrett Roddenberry, and "Star Trek" engineer James "Scotty" Doohan. "Star Trek" VFX wizard Greg Jein, the creator of many-a series models, and "Star Trek" producer Robert H. Justman, known for being Gene Rodenberry's right-hand man, will also be joining the "Star Trek" cast and crew into deep space.
The DNA of other science fiction notables will also be going to deep space. VFX master Douglas Trumbull, known for his work on "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Close Encounters of The Third Kind," and several other people will also be joining the four presidents.
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