Scotty's Ashes Are Lost, On Earth!

At the end of April I had a post about how the cremated remains of James Doohan (“Scotty” from Star Trek) and Gordon Cooper (NASA astronaut from the Mercury and Gemini missions) had been blasted into orbit, along with ashes from about 200 other people.

It seems I spoke too soon.

According to a report released yesterday, their rocket didn’t actually end up in orbit. Instead, it crashed somewhere in New Mexico’s mountains and is currently lost!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18594384/?GT1=9951

Oops! Talk about a half-ashed launch! As the rocket was headed back earthward, I could just hear the conversation between Doohan and Cooper’s ghosts:

Gordo: “Houston, we have a problem. Scotty, we need more power.”

Scotty: “I’m givin’ ‘er all she’s got, Cap’n! The warp coil can’t take much more ‘o this!”

Are they looking for the rocket’s “remains”? You bet your ash they are, but the landscape is so rugged and overgrown with vegetation they are having a very difficult time.

I wonder what state the ashes are in. Are the little cans all opened and jumbled up? Will they try to scoop up the ashes and divvy up the remains between the cans? Are Gordo and Scotty truly going to spend eternity together? How much of an effort will be made to separate out bits of debris, soil, and rocket fuel?

They are bringing in telemetry equipment to search. Stay tuned to this blog post for updates.

Update (5/19/07): They found the rocket and ash cannisters, unharmed. See the update post at: http://angrylabrat.blogspot.com/2007/05/they-found-scottys-ash.html.