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Memorial spaceflights have grown from novelty to a modest and steady business, one that’s carried thousands of loved ones to orbit over the past three decades. Now, a startup founded by a former Blue Origin engineer aims to harness the space industry’s latest advances to take the market mainstream.
Ryan Mitchell, founder of Florida-based Space Beyond, is raising funds to fly a brick-sized cubesat that he said could carry at least 1,000 capsules to low Earth orbit (LEO) as early as next year.
Each capsule would carry a symbolic portion of human or pet remains to LEO for a minimum of $249, separated and sealed for up to 25 years before reentering Earth’s atmosphere.
That is a fraction of Celestis’ premium packages, starting at $3,495 for suborbital flights that return capsules as keepsakes and rising to $12,995 for missions to the moon and beyond.
Space Beyond’s low-cost approach, Mitchell said, is designed to “intentionally open this memorial option beyond high-net-worth individuals.”
It’s made possible by standardized small satellite hardware, falling launch prices and the rise of frequent rideshare opportunities that have lowered barriers for specialized payloads.
The company’s Kickstarter campaign is seeking $124,300 from at least 500 clients by Sept. 18 to fund spacecraft development, certification, launch, operations and other direct costs for its debut mission. Mitchell plans to cover indirect and overhead expenses with his personal savings. As of press time, it’s raised $8,868 from 44 backers.
Launch is still the largest single expense, he said, although shipping is also significant because USPS Priority Mail Express is the only permitted way to send cremated remains within the United States.
Like Celestis, Space Beyond also bundles insurance into its price to cover the possibility of a reflight, a lesson underscored by past setbacks in the industry.
San Francisco-based Elysium Space’s first mission failed to reach orbit in 2015 on the maiden flight of the U.S. Air Force’s Super Strypi rocket. It’s unclear whether those customers had to pay Elysium’s $2,490 fee to join a follow-on mission, which successfully launched on a SpaceX rocket in 2018.
Elysium also charged $9,950 to send remains aboard Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander, but the spacecraft never reached the moon after suffering a propellant leak shortly after its 2024 launch. The lander ultimately reentered Earth’s atmosphere after tracing a highly elliptical orbit that carried it briefly out to lunar distance.
Elysium did not respond to requests for comment.
From luxury to mass market
Celestis CEO Charles Chafer said the company is the only one to have successfully flown memorial missions to the moon or deep space.
The company’s premium service comes with three-day launch events that include astronaut briefings, launch site tours, private viewing areas and charter transportation.
Celestis also designs its own flight containers, each capable of holding around 300 individually inscribed capsules, Chafer said.
“Demand is increasing — we’ve experienced 40% annual growth year over year for each of the past five years,” he said.
This growth is fueled by cultural shifts alongside easier access to space. According to Chafer, the U.S. cremation rate has risen from 22% when Celestis started operations to 62% today, and is expected to reach 80% within a decade.
“This growth in cremation reflects different choices for today’s baby boomer,” Chafer added, “plus consumers who are more interested in experiences and alternative disposition than in the past.”
Meanwhile, Mitchell sees a vast untapped potential beyond the premium tier, pointing to an estimated 80 million human and pet remains currently sitting in U.S. households.
“We’re not competing with Celestis or Elysium,” he added, “we’re competing with the shelf and the back corner of the closet.”
This article first appeared in the September 2025 issue of SpaceNews Magazine.
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