George Washington, John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan embark on a trip to outer space to make your hair stand on end.
Not the actual, long-deceased former US presidents, but
samples of their hair.
Celestis,
a Texas-based company that specializes in space burials, announced the plan Monday as Presidents' Day was celebrated in the United States.
Nichelle Nichols (Star Trek's Lt. Uhura) at NASA's Johnson Space Center in March 1977 (NASA).
The company said it will send "authenticated DNA"
of former presidents into space
on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) rocket later this year.
Also aboard the flight, dubbed Enterprise, will be some of the
cremated remains
of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry and other cast members from that 1960s sci-fi TV series.
In "Star Trek," the USS Enterprise was the spaceship whose mission was to "go boldly where no man has gone before."
strands of hair into space
Celestis said the hair samples from the four former presidents were given by
an anonymous donor
and came with certificates of authenticity.
They originally came from the collection of Louis Mushro, a "celebrity hair collector and appraiser" from Michigan, who died in 2014.
"These hair samples have been kept in a
climate-controlled
site for several years in preparation for this mission," Celestis said in a statement.
Star Trek creator and cast members attend the launch of the space shuttle Enterprise in 1977 (NASA).
"By adding the DNA of these American icons to
Enterprise
, we set a precedent for future human missions and add to the historical record of human deep space exploration," said Celestis co-founder and CEO Charles Chafer.
The hair samples, as well as the thimble-sized capsules of the cremated remains, will be carried into space by a ULA Vulcan rocket, whose maiden flight is scheduled to take place in the coming months from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The company charges $4,995 to launch debris into Earth orbit and from $12,500 for a trip beyond the Moon.
The ULA rocket will deploy two satellites, send a lunar lander to the Moon and then launch the payload of hair samples and cremated remains of former presidents into deep space.
Celestis
sent some of Roddenberry's ashes into orbit around Earth on its first Founders Flight rocket launch in 1997.
The Houston company currently charges
$4,995
to launch debris into Earth orbit and
from $12,500
for a trip into deep space beyond the Moon.
AFP Agency.
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