{"id":40268,"date":"2025-07-05T08:08:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T08:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/40268\/"},"modified":"2025-07-05T08:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T08:08:12","slug":"space-capsule-carrying-ashes-of-166-people-meets-bizarre-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/40268\/","title":{"rendered":"Space capsule carrying ashes of 166 people meets bizarre end"},"content":{"rendered":"

A space capsule carrying the ashes of 166 people met an anticlimactic fate when it plunged into the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

The Nyx capsule, launched on June 23 as part of an initiative called ‘Mission Possible’ by the German start-up The Exploration Company (TEC), was designed to send its passengers on a final journey into space.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The capsule was intended to carry the ashes safely back to earth after the flights, fulfilling their dying wishes to finally become astronauts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But after the capsule completed two orbits around Earth ‘an anomaly occurred’ and the vessel was lost during its planned re-entry into the atmosphere, according to Celestis co-founder<\/a>\u00a0and CEO Charles M. Chafer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The mission was carried out in partnership with Celestis, a Texas-based company specializing in space burials<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to TEC, the spacecraft’s launch was successful, the payload was powered as expected in orbit, and the spacecraft even re-established communication after a brief blackout during re-entry.<\/p>\n

However, moments before the capsule was scheduled to splash down and return safely to Earth, the mission hit a wall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

TEC revealed that they ‘lost communication’ with the capsule a few minutes before its scheduled splashdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Nyx capsule (pictured), launched on June 23 as part of an initiative called ‘Mission Possible’ by the German start-up The Exploration Company (TEC), was designed to send its passengers on a final journey into space<\/p>\n

\"After <\/p>\n

After the capsule completed two orbits around Earth ‘an anomaly occurred’ and the vessel was lost after re-entry, according to Celestis co-founder and CEO Charles M. Chafer (pictured)<\/p>\n

‘We apologize to all our clients who entrusted us with their payloads,’ the company, which had celebrated the capsule’s previous milestones, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

TEC said that the payload – along with the remains of the deceased and several other experimental items – was lost in the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

In addition to human remains, the Nyx capsule carried cannabis plant matter and seeds for a citizen science project called Martian Grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The initiative aims to study the viability of growing cannabis on Mars, hoping to push the boundaries of space agriculture, according to Popular Mechanics.<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the loss, Celestis offered consolation to the families of those whose loved ones were aboard the mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Though we currently believe that we cannot return the flight capsules, we hope families will find some peace in knowing their loved ones were part of a historic journey, launched into space, orbited Earth, and are now resting in the vastness of the Pacific, akin to a traditional and honored sea scattering,’ Chafer wrote.<\/p>\n

‘While there were many successful milestones achieved – launch, orbit, and controlled reentry – this was the first Celestis mission designed to return from orbit, and we recognize the bravery and ambition it required from all involved,’ the Celestis CEO wrote.<\/p>\n

‘We also recognize that no technical achievement replaces the profound personal meaning this service holds for our families.’<\/p>\n

TEC, which had only launched one previous capsule before Nyx, acknowledged that while the mission wasn’t the complete success they had hoped for, it still represented progress.<\/p>\n

\"In <\/p>\n

In addition to human remains, the Nyx capsule (pictured) carried cannabis plant matter and seeds for a citizen science project called Martian Grow<\/p>\n

\"TEC, <\/p>\n

TEC, which had only launched one previous capsule before Nyx, acknowledged that while the mission wasn’t the complete success they had hoped for. Pictured: Celestis’ customized, aerospace-grade aluminum flight capsule has been successfully integrated into the container that will be placed aboard the Nyx spacecraft for the upcoming flight<\/p>\n

H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Huby, Founder and CEO of TEC, expressed a mixture of gratitude and regret, saying, ‘We are continuing our journey, eager to implement these learnings in our next vehicle.<\/p>\n

‘We will learn from Mission Possible and improve, together as a team. I express my profound gratitude to The Exploration Company’s team members who are demonstrating outstanding solidarity, resilience, and commitment to the success of our mission.’<\/p>\n

Celestis has been in contact with the families to offer support.<\/p>\n

‘We remain committed to serving with transparency, compassion, and care,’ Chafer concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A space capsule carrying the ashes of 166 people met an anticlimactic fate when it plunged into the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":40269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[211,159,914,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-40268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-sciencetech","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}