Burial In Space? ULA Launch Sparks Controversy With Navajo Nation For Carrying Human Remains On Board

In a historic move, the United States’s first moon mission since the 1970s includes “space burials.” This is despite the Navajo Nation’s earlier objection to it.

What Happened: The Hill reported that the recently launched Vulcan rocket by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture by Lockheed Martin LMT and Boeing BA, would be carrying memorials and human remains from space companies such as Celestis and Elysium Space. This choice has garnered criticism from indigenous groups.

In December 2023, the Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren urged NASA to delay the launch to consult with the Navajo Nation about this matter. The Navajos are among the many indigenous cultures worldwide that consider the Moon a sacred and spiritual entity.

In the letter, Nygren reminded that NASA failed to consult the indigenous tribes before sending human remains to the moon as promised in the 1990s. Late Albert Hale, the then-Navajo Nation President, had objected to NASA’s Lunar Prospector carrying the remains of a former astronaut to the Moon. NASA had issued a formal apology and had given the word to consult indigenous tribes for similar projects in the future.

“The act of depositing human remains and other materials, which could be perceived as discards in any other location, on the Moon is tantamount to desecration of this sacred space,” he wrote.

According to CNN, the White House had convened a last-minute meeting on Saturday to discuss the concerns.

The concept of space burials was first found in science-fiction books in the 1930s. Celestis is among the first such companies that offer the service of cremating remains in space. The lunar cremation service is available at $12,995 per their website.

CEO of Astrobotic, John Thornton, expressed his “disappointment” with these concerns’ belated nature and hope for a resolution with the Navajo Nation.

In a mail response to Benzinga, Celestis CEO and co-founder Charles M. Chafer expressed that the concerns raised by Nygren are not “compelling” or “substantive.”

“The regulatory process that approves space missions does not consider compliance with the tenets of any religion in the process for obvious reasons. No one, and no religion, owns the moon and were the beliefs of the world's multitude of religions considered it's quite likely that no missions would ever be approved,” he said.

“It's hard for us to understand why scattering and interring ashes on literally millions of locations on Earth is an appropriate ritual, but doing the same on the moon is somehow inappropriate,” he added.

Why It Matters: This moon launch is a significant event in the U.S.’s space exploration history. The launch was scheduled for early Monday when the Peregrine Astrobotic lunar lander, with the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur Rocket, took off at 2:18 a.m. ET.

The ULA is positioning its new Vulcan rocket as a competitor to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and plans to transport cargo for entities such as NASA and the Pentagon.

Along with human remains, the Peregrine is carrying 20 payloads, including those from governments, companies, universities, and NASA’s CLPS. Of the five NASA payloads, some are to be instruments and tools for lunar research.

Image via Shutterstock

This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with a comment from CEO of Celestis