Doohan passed away in 2005 at the age of 85. The World War II veteran starred in the original Star Trek series from 1966 to 1969 and subsequent films and sported his Scottish accent, although he was Canadian.
One of the best known phrases associated with it – “Beam me up, Scotty” – is one of the most iconic sayings in popular Star Trek culture and beyond, and it was even the name of Doohan’s autobiography, though no one in the series has ever actually saying the exact quote.
In 2007, some of Doohan’s ashes were launched to the edge of space in a suborbital rocket before falling and being lost for three weeks in a mountain range. In 2008, before the mission’s success, a sample that was supposed to enter Earth’s orbit was destroyed when the rocket failed.Doohan’s son Chris did not give up and contacted Garriott days before his $ 30 million trip to the ISS and asked him to comply with “his father’s request to rest among the stars”
“I said, ‘I am quarantined in Kazakhstan. . . but if you can take the ashes to me, I will find a way to put them on board. A few days before the flight, this package arrived and I made a plan, ”said Garriott.
Garriott printed three cards with a photograph of Doohan, laminated them with some of his ashes and hid one of them inside his flight data file. The file was allowed to fly, but the ashes apparently did not.
“Everything that officially goes on board is recorded, inspected and bagged – there is a process, but there was no time to put it through that process,” said Garriott. “The concern later was that it could disrupt relationships because I was not allowed. . . then, very cautiously, they asked me to say to the family: ‘We are not going to make a big fuss publicly’. “
Chris Doohan, who took on the role of Scotty in 2013 for the Star Trek Continues web series, shared his gratitude for what Garriott did for his father and family.
“Richard said ‘We need to keep this silence for a while’ and here we are 12 years later. What he did was play – it meant a lot to me, a lot to my family and it would have meant a lot to my dad, ”said Doohan. “My father had three passions: space, science and trains. He always wanted to go to space. “
“As far as I know, no one has ever seen it and no one has moved it,” concluded Garriott. “James Doohan had his resting place among the stars.”
Image credit: Frank Micelotta / Getty Images.
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Adam Bankhurst is an IGN news writer. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.