SpaceX's rocket destroys Scotty's space-bound ashes in a demonstration of tremendous irony

Finely riding that razored edge between tragedy and comedy, the New York Times reports that not only did the SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket lose its three satellites and fail to reach orbit during a recent launch, but it also destroyed the remains of actor James Doohan, best known as the original Star Trek's Chief Engineer "Scotty." The actor's ashes -- as well as those of over 200 others -- were being carried into orbit by the rocket when complications with the ship's stage separation led to the (assumed) destruction of the craft. This recent mishap puts a sad period on the end of the sentence that already included an earlier loss and eventual recovery of the remains.

[Via Slashdot]

[Xenoterranos @ Aug 4th 2008 12:24PM]

She couldn't do it captain. She needed more power. :(

[fred @ Aug 4th 2008 12:48PM]

for some reason I picture the people at mission contol trying to control the launch computers by talkinging into the mouse.

[oGMo @ Aug 4th 2008 1:05PM]

Don't worry, he'll come back next generation when they reconstitute his pattern.

[Steffen Jobbs @ Aug 4th 2008 1:24PM]

"He's dead, Jim."

[OneLove @ Aug 4th 2008 1:26PM]

Don't worry hes stuck in the transporter pattern buffer.

[BigD145 @ Aug 4th 2008 1:55PM]

Scotty is rolling in his grave.... oh, wait.

[IndiaTech @ Aug 4th 2008 3:13PM]

"All I can say is...they don't make them like they used ta" - Scotty

[Dan S. @ Aug 4th 2008 3:32PM]

Welshy!

[John @ Aug 4th 2008 4:14PM]

@Fred - thanks for the laugh. I won't be able to get that out of my head all day. "Helloo computer!".

[Craig @ Aug 4th 2008 4:30PM]

D'oh! Beat me to it by a mere...uh...4 hours.

OK, shutting up now.

[Mike @ Aug 5th 2008 3:38PM]

It's toe-tappingly tragic.

[LiqwidZero @ Aug 4th 2008 12:25PM]

Idiots.

[greg @ Aug 4th 2008 12:32PM]

hmmm...for some reason I still think they are smarter than you.

[Slipstream0 @ Aug 4th 2008 3:10PM]

I dunno.... how smart do you have to be to fail a rocket launch? Hell, i could do that....

[Michael Chastain @ Aug 4th 2008 3:48PM]

You were expecting them to be rocket scientists or something?

[Craig @ Aug 4th 2008 4:33PM]

@Slipstream0: Ah, but failing five minutes after launch takes a whole 'nother level of incompetence.

"Wait, what do you mean 'when it leaves the atmosphere'?"

[m-p{3} @ Sep 29th 2008 12:16PM]

"That's no rocket science"

[Graham @ Aug 4th 2008 12:30PM]

Assumed destruction? So we arnt really sure that a massive fireball that consumed a multi-million dollar investment, and was reported by dozens of news papers, really happened?

[whowhatme @ Aug 4th 2008 12:50PM]

aren't human ashes pretty much already destroyed human remains? what happens when you burn ashes, anyway.. doesn't seem like it'd be that big a deal to me

[Anthony @ Aug 4th 2008 12:52PM]

I think they might be referencing either the video's "we're not certain what happened" take or that they did find the box from the last failed attempt, even though it was thought destroyed too.

[LondonConsultant @ Aug 4th 2008 12:34PM]

Ferengi sabotage...

[OneLove @ Aug 4th 2008 1:29PM]

Rule of Acquisition no 1. "Once you have their money, you never give it back."

[riggs @ Aug 4th 2008 12:33PM]

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Frun @ Aug 4th 2008 12:33PM]

Why would anyone in ther right mind put this much stuff into a rocket that has failed twice previously. It makes no sense!
someone gosts some splainin' to do Luuucy

[Jon Acheson @ Aug 4th 2008 12:53PM]

Most rockets go through multiple test flights before a successful launch. This one was more successful than the previous launch, and the all-new first stage performed perfectly.

Also, FWIW, the payload only contained a couple grams of Doohan's ashes, as a symbolic gesture. Not the whole urn.

[scottie @ Aug 4th 2008 2:50PM]

Well that clearly explains why the ship blew up. You clearly cannot run a spaceship properly with only some of Scotty. You need all of him to get that baby up and fully running. Didn't they learn anything from episode 45 with that planet of Marlocks and the green women?

[ShadowKain @ Aug 4th 2008 3:54PM]

@scottie

I collapsed on the floor XD!!!! thx for that

[NHAnimator @ Aug 4th 2008 12:34PM]

Well, that explains the "smog" over Bejing.

[slowburn @ Aug 4th 2008 12:40PM]

"SHE CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS CAPTAIN!"

[slowburn @ Aug 4th 2008 12:43PM]

I'm sorry, I'm a trekkie, but I can't stop laughing at all his one liners from teh show :)

[Lowest Ranked @ Aug 4th 2008 12:59PM]

I'm sorry you're a trekie too.

[avester @ Aug 4th 2008 12:39PM]

_0_ Days without warping accidents.

[Knives_Out @ Aug 4th 2008 12:40PM]

I burst out laughing when I read this ... everyone in my office looked over.

is it wrong to find this tremendously funny?

[Steffen Jobbs @ Aug 4th 2008 1:42PM]

Is this sort of thing funny? You think this is an episode of M.A.S.H.? You'll find out when your spirit is floating about the funeral parlor and your friends and family are laughing over your coffin about how extremely insensitive you were when you were alive.

You'll eventually pass clean-through James Doohan's rotund spirit in about a thousand years and he'll throw some Scottish epithets in your direction. Something to do with rotten haggis and your lousy sense of humor.

Go ahead and laugh it up people. The maggot picnic is just a cerebral hemorrhage or clogged artery away.

[phanbouy @ Aug 4th 2008 2:00PM]

Steffen, just a hint... "maggot picnic" isn't funny in any context

[Bunson @ Aug 4th 2008 2:36PM]

Hey Steffen,

I'm sorry to inform you that Apple does not sell senses of humor. You might have to shop like the rest of us low-lifes for once and buy one at your local Fry's Electronics.

[The Dude @ Aug 4th 2008 2:37PM]

Don't worry. I LOL'd HARD, too.

@Steffen:
Not a problem for those of us who don't believe in that spiritual/mystic nonsense. I'm not laughing so much at the fact that he's dead, but really at the abounding irony in that:
1. This is the second time his ashes get pwned trying to get launched into space.
2. He played a part in a hackneyed science-fiction soap opera for nerds set in space.
3. His combusted remains got combusted once more.

Oh LAWD, I'm LOL'ing all over again.

[kjb434 @ Aug 4th 2008 12:50PM]

Aren't ashes already their bodies burned completely?

Having them explode in a fiery mess in space isn't like they were destroyed? Just refried.......

And yes, you can laugh. I remember when my grandmother past away, her funeral instructions demanded that the family throw a big party and not make the occasion solemn. Funerals are to celebrate, not depress.

[Archaix @ Aug 4th 2008 12:55PM]

Well If you choose to honor your loved one by blasting his remains into outer space based on a role he played as the ships engineer on a TV show I guess that having that rocket in turn actually blow up is strangely fitting. Almost like Scotty wasn't there to fix it this time. Thanks for the memories Mr. Doohan.

[NobleArc, The Lazy Canadian @ Aug 4th 2008 2:13PM]

That's a beautiful sentiment. :)

[octoberasian @ Aug 4th 2008 2:42PM]

I agree, that's a very good comment. It's just strangely, maybe ironically, fitting.

[waterwagen @ Aug 4th 2008 3:28PM]

That's a great perspective.

[John @ Aug 4th 2008 4:11PM]

You made me cry.

[meist3r @ Aug 4th 2008 1:02PM]

"Hull integrity: breached"

[Defiler @ Aug 4th 2008 1:08PM]

"I'M GIVING HER ALL SHE CAN TAKE, CAPTAIN!!! I DON'T THINK SHE CAN TAKE ANY MOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEE!"

[Zak @ Aug 4th 2008 1:10PM]

Just goes to show, you canna change the laws o' physics.

[Neil H. @ Aug 4th 2008 1:13PM]

As I mentioned in the previous thread, only a few grams of Doohan's ashes were on board, supposed to be symbolic of the whole. Celestis, the company that does the memorial payloads, will mostly likely just try launching again using part of the remaining ashes on another rocket.

[Bunson @ Aug 4th 2008 2:37PM]

The third times the charm.

[ThePowerCosmic @ Aug 4th 2008 1:19PM]

Assumed destruction?
Scotty's ashes; soon to be on ebay.

[phanbouy @ Aug 4th 2008 1:26PM]

moar Scottie quotes in caps plz