Ascension Flights: British company launches funeral service where families can scatter ashes in space

Prices cost upwards of £795

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A British company is launching the first extra-terrestrial funeral service that means people can have their ashes scattered in space.

Offered by Ascension Flights, the process allows families to send their loved one’s remains to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere and costs upwards of £795.

Using the Ascension 1 aircraft, a person’s cremated remains are carried 22 miles up to be released into the high-altitude winds of the stratosphere before the emptied canister returns to Earth.

As part of the service, the two-and-a-half hour process is also filmed on an HD camera so that friends and family can watch the ashes being scattered while residual moisture in the canister creates a plume of glitter.

The launches are set to take place at the company’s South Yorkshire base but can be held elsewhere for a higher fee. Pet funerals are also on offer.

Ascension Flights will launch next month (Ascension Flights)

All flights are authorised by the Civil Aviation Authority, which provides a launch window and warns nearby pilots.

The company was formed by two ex-University of Sheffield students who appeared on Dragon’s Den with their concept and have been developing the technology for five years.

“Many of the first generation of space fans will never experience space flight,” co-founder Dr Chris Rose said.

“Our new service enables families the opportunity to fulfil their loved ones’ dreams. We feel it’s the ultimate send-off for a life well lived.

“Fundamentally, we are all stardust, so this feels like a fitting tribute to those of us who have lived through the prologue to the space age.”