Cremains Scattered — But That Wasn’t the Plan

Yesterday (September 25, 2006), a privately-funded rocket (SpaceLoft XL) was to take a payload which included cremated remains (along with a bag of Cheerios and some high school science projects) into a 13-minute suborbital flight.  The rocket was then supposed to parachute back to earth.

But, something went wrong, very wrong.  The rocket malfunctioned and crashed to the ground scattering the payload, including the cremains, over the New Mexican desert.

See Associated Press Rocket crashes after NM spaceport launch (Sept. 26, 2006).