Celestis Stardust from p 15 That loss was pivotal for Chapman. He quit NASA over the introduction of the space shuttle program to work in the private aerospace industry and settled in Scottsdale, where he lived out the rest of his life. He never got to fly in space. Last year, he died unexpectedly at age 86. But Chapman’s story isn’t over, thanks to Celestis Inc., a Houston-based company that launches cremated human remains into space. Space burial awaits. Soon, he will posthumously fulfill his nearly century-old dream of space travel. “It is not a sad funeral,” Chapman’s wife, Maria Tseng, told Phoenix New Times. “It will be three days of celebration.” Chapman will first board the Aurora Flight, named for the ionized particles that color the night sky in polar regions with eerie light. The flight is scheduled for liftoff on November 30 from Spaceport America in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. It will mark the 19th memorial space flight launch since Celestis began in 1994. “It fits Phil’s goals and life motivations very well,” Tseng said. Before Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos, Chapman took a special interest in commercializing space travel. He took to heart NASA’s one-time mission statement, later co-opted by Musk’s SpaceX: “Make humanity a space-faring civilization.” “He was ahead of his time,” Celestis CEO Charles Chafer told New Times. On the Aurora Flight, Chapman’s remains will be loaded aboard a SpaceLoft XL rocket ship and reach outer space, about 120 miles from Earth’s surface, and briefly encounter the effect of space’s weightlessness before returning safely to the ground. The flown capsule, containing his cremated remains and DNA sample still sealed inside, will be presented to family and other loved ones after the flight. “The best part about this mission is after his journey he gets to come back to me,” Tseng said. The reunion will be short-lived, though. In December, Chapman is going back to space. This time, he’s going to make history. And he won’t be coming back. He will be somewhere in deep space, beyond the far side of the moon, where he will settle into a nearby orbit around the sun. Chapman will be flown on the Enterprise Flight during a permanent deep space mission as part of a payload fight tasked with delivering a rover to the moon. That’s to avoid wasting rocket fuel, a concern often broached in SpaceX’s plans to pioneer tourism in space. The vessel will contain mementos from Chapman’s time in the Apollo program, including his astronaut helmet, ashes, DNA, and messages of well-wishes from loved ones and fans all over the world engraved on radiation-proof metal chips. The intense cosmic rays in deep space will not blemish the words of loved ones Celestis for lifetimes. “To me, that is very meaningful,” Tseng said. “He will orbit the sun for as long as the sun lives.” Chapman’s vessel will become “the first human outpost in space,” Chafer said. “It’s an unbelievable honor that Maria and her sons sought us out and wanted to honor Phil in this matter,” Chafer said. “He is an amazingly accomplished person who never made it to space, so in that sense, we’re thrilled to be able to provide his first and second flights into space. He had a critical role in getting us to the moon and back in the Apollo program.” As a member of a backup crew and a mission scientist for Apollo 14, Chapman performed all the research and testing that precluded the mission. He also worked to solve the mysteries of how the universe works and the pressing question of whether there’s life on other planets or in other galaxies, according to NASA. Celestis flew the ashes of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and actor James Doohan, who played Scotty, into space in November 2014. It also flew the ashes of Eugene Shoemaker, the famous geologist Above: Chapman at work on NASA’s Apollo program. Above left: Celestis launches a memorial spacecraft into low-Earth orbit from Spaceport America in New Mexico. who figured out that the Meteor Crater — also known as the Barringer Crater — near Flagstaff, is an asteroid strike. Shoemaker trained the Apollo astronauts in northern Arizona, where Chapman became his friend, and they developed a mutual admiration for each other. Shoemaker’s ashes are the only human remains on the moon, flown there by Celestis. It’s not just space exploration enthusiasts who are memorialized with funerals beyond Earth’s atmosphere, though. Celestis has flown restaurant workers, truck drivers, and mountain climbers from 35 countries. A deep space memorial for Chapman cost a little under $10,000, according to Tseng. “The commonality is simply a yearning to go to space,” Chafer said. “It’s stepping out on a starry night and wanting to join the cosmos.” But for Chapman, it was more >> p 18 16 JULY 21ST–JULY 27TH, 2022 PHOENIX NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | NEWS | OPINION | FEEDBACK | CONTENTS | phoenixnewtimes.com
