Wes Dreyer, who lived in San Diego, died in late October from a heart attack. And when his family saw the Celestis brochure in the funeral home, they immediately knew he would love it. This mission cost $3,495 for 1 gram of a person’s cremated remains. Going to the moon or deep space starts at $12,995.

The spacecraft carrying his remains is expected to orbit Earth two to three times before landing in the Pacific Ocean. Family members can later retrieve the cremated remains.

Not all Celestis missions are designed to return cremated remains. Some are destined for deep space or the moon. Others circle the globe and then burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. 

Past Celestis missions have failed to reach their destinations due to rocket issues. This month’s launch will be Exploration’s second flight – its first failed to return the capsule to Earth, though this was due to an issue with the Ariane 6 rocket and not the capsule – and the company’s first time carrying customer payloads.

That just ups the adventure.

“If anything did happen, he probably would have just laughed and been like, ‘Well, it's a good thing I'm right there to figure out what happened,” Kelly Dreyer said. “That was a big part of his career and part of what he did.”