Starting this fall, a Texas company called Celestis Inc, is offering a new, one-of-a-kind pet funeral service – they will send the cremated remains of people’s pets into outer space. The new initiative is called ‘Celestis Pets’, and according to the company, it’s all about helping owners ‘celebrate the life of their pet’.

Since 1997, Celestis Inc. has been in the business of taking human remains into outer space and bringing them back, including the ashes of ‘Star Trek’ creator Gene Roddenberry. This is the first time they’re extending their services to pets, in collaboration with San Diego-based ‘Into the Sunset Pet Transition Center’ to handle the remains.

“I think we’re also creating some new cultural norms,” said Steve Eisele, Director of Houston-based Celestis Pets. “Humanity has a lot of different rituals. We think we take our rituals with us when we end up traveling to different places whether they’re on this planet or off the planet,” he explained.

There are a couple of packages for pet-owners to choose from: they can either send a small sample of their pet’s remains into orbit for $995, or send them all the way to the moon for a whopping $12,000. The second package will take longer to reach its destination, of course.

“The Apollo missions only took three days to get to the moon, so there could be a faster path,” said Eisele. “It all depends on the launch. It could take as little as three days, and up to years based on which trajectory is taken.”

The company will launch its first commercial pet memorial spaceflight in October with the remains of a blue merle Australian shepherd named Apollo.

Source: CBS Local