The moon has long been revered by many Native American tribes. So, when Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren recently discovered that NASA is planning to launch a rocket headed to the moon in early January with cremated human remains to be placed there, he sent a letter to NASA and the U.S. Department of Transportation asking to delay the launch.
“It is crucial to emphasize that the moon holds a sacred position in many Indigenous cultures, including ours,” President Nygren wrote. “We view it as a part of our spiritual heritage, an object of reverence and respect. The act of depositing human remains and other materials, which could be perceived as discards in any other location, on the Moon is tantamount to desecration of this sacred space.”
NASA is planning on launching the Vulcan Centaur carrying the Peregrine Mission One by Astrobotic Technology on January 8, 2024. Among 28 payloads are some by Celestis and Elysium Space, companies known for providing memorial services by shipping human cremated remains.
Nygren has asked NASA and the federal Transportation Dept. to consult with the Navajo Nation before sending human remains to the moon.
In a Dec. 21 letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, and Transportation Assistant Secretary for Tribal Government Affairs Arlando Teller, President Nygren expressed what he called “our deep concern and profound disappointment regarding a matter of utmost importance.”
In his letter, Nygren asked that the launch be delayed and immediate consultation take place.
“We believe that both NASA and the USDOT should have engaged in consultation with us before agreeing to contract with a company that transports human remains to the Moon or authorizing a launch carrying such payloads,” he wrote.
If anyone’s wondering why they would do that in the first place, it’s because some billionaire assholes want to be memorialized up there.
NASA is planning on launching the Vulcan Centaur carrying the Peregrine Mission One by Astrobotic Technology on January 8, 2024. Among 28 payloads are some by Celestis and Elysium Space, companies known for providing memorial services by shipping human cremated remains.
I’m also against littering.
I vote we skip the moon and send these useless ashes straight to the
suncelestial garbage incinerator.like, it can’t be that hard to convince rich people that having their remains launched into the sun is a spiritual rebirth, right?
I think that would be cooler than shooting your ashes to sit on the moon and do nothing.
Honestly, even I wouldn’t be that opposed to it with my future corpse. Cremation on another celestial body? Why not?
After we achieve post scarcity and if non-useful space cargo stops affecting climate change, I’m cool with that too.
But there’s a pretty high chance some indigenous tribe somewhere considers that sacred too. (And I don’t say that to downplay those concerns if they exist, nor those of the Navajo who oppose human remains on the moon).
yeah the only thing stopping me from doing that is that it would be really expensive for no reason
I also vote for this, with the caveat that we don’t even have to wait for them to die first.
I support this addendum
legitimately thought this was a c/fakenews bit for a second
No, sorry, but you can’t just point at something in space and say ‘that’s sacred to me, you can’t do stuff there’. They’ve never been to the moon, they don’t get to just magically have rights over it. Otherwise, where would it stop? Someone can just say “Mars is sacred” and no-one can go there?
