How Star Trek actor’s ashes were smuggled onto the ISS
- Ashes of James Doohan, who played Scotty, have been interred on the International Space Station since 2008
- ‘Completely clandestine’ caper was revealed by Doohan’s son this week, more than 12 years later
Scotty, the chief engineer on the fictional USS Enterprise who was always scrambling to heed the cry, “Beam me up, Scotty!” has been transported himself.
The ashes of James Doohan, the actor who portrayed the original Star Trek character Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, have been interred for a dozen years on the International Space Station (ISS). And on Monday, the backstory of how they came to be there was revealed in full.
Doohan died in July 2005 at age 85, though his character would not be born until the 23rd century. Portions of the actor’s ashes had previously been launched into space officially a couple of other times, according to The Verge.
Citizen astronaut and entrepreneur Richard Garriott, who was one of the first private citizens to fly to space, smuggled Doohan’s ashes during a 12-day mission in 2008, he told The Times of London in a story published on Christmas Day.
The plot was conceived by son Chris Doohan.