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Geologist Eugene Shoemaker’s ashes were sent to the moon on NASA’s Lunar Prospector spacecraft in 1998. He became the first person to be buried on another world. Shoemaker co-discovered Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and contributed to the field of planetary science. His ashes were packaged in a capsule with an engraved image of comet Hale-Bopp and a quote from Romeo and Juliet. Other notable people who had their ashes creatively disposed of include Fredric Baur, Edward Headrick, and Hunter S. Thompson.
American geologist and planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker never walked on the moon, but now he can spend the rest of eternity there.
In early 1998, when NASA sent its Lunar Prospector spacecraft to the Moon to search for ice, it was carrying 28 grams of Shoemaker’s ashes. And when the orbiter plunged to the lunar surface on July 31, 1999, Shoemaker became the first and only person to be buried on another world.
Shoemaker gained fame by co-discovering Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which crashed into Jupiter in July 1994, becoming the first such collision ever seen by mankind. Shoemaker’s notable career also included developing the field of planetary science, studying craters on Earth, founding the United States Geological Survey’s Astrogeology Research Program, and teaching Apollo astronauts on the surface of the Moon before it they entered.
After Shoemaker’s death in a car accident in 1997, NASA worked with Celestis, a company that insures payload space on rocket launches for the remains of people, to arrange for a portion of Shoemaker’s ashes to be deposited Shoemaker on the Moon.
The cobbler’s remains were packaged in a polycarbonate capsule wrapped in brass foil. His birth and death dates were laser engraved on an image of comet Hale-Bopp, which was the last comet he and his wife, fellow astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker, observed. The capsule also included a picture of Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona, where Shoemaker worked with the astronauts, and this quote from Romeo and Juliet: “And, when it dies/Take it and cut it into little stars/And it’ll make the face of the sky so pretty / that all the world will be in love with the night / and will not adore the flamboyant sun».
Ash to Ash:
Fredric Baur invented the Pringles can and when he died in 2008, his family had his ashes placed in one.
The ashes of World Frisbee Championships founder Edward Headrick’s remains were mixed with plastic and molded into many of the flying saucers after his death in 2002.
Writer Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes were scattered by fireworks at a memorial display following his death in 2005.
