INTERVIEW: Celestis President Colby Youngblood On Sending Star Trek Luminaries Into Space

Colby Youngblood, pesident of Celestis.

NOVEMBER 8, 2022 - In October, we brought you the news that two more Star Trek luminaries were joining Celestis’ “Enterprise Mission.” The mission, sending the remains of the likes of Gene Roddenberry, Bob Justman, Nichelle Nichols, and Greg Jein, among others, into space, is set to blast off early next year. We spoke to Colby Youngblood, president of Celestis, about the mission. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

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Who originally proposed the idea for the Enterprise mission?

[Our] first launch [in 1997], there were some pretty important people on that. Gene Roddenberry…was on it, and Majel [Barrett-Roddenberry] was there, standing next to Charlie [Chafer, Celestis’ co-Founder] when the rocket launched. So, Majel’s standing there, watching, and she looks over at Charlie and says, “Charlie, when it’s my time, promise me that you’ll send me with Gene on another mission. And so that was the genesis of our Voyager mission.

And so, now that Majel passed away, we’re taking both of their ashes and they’re flying on our Enterprise mission. But not just them. We’ve got Rod [Roddenberry] as well. We’ve got Rod’s DNA and all three of them are going together on the Enterprise mission.

Is it a coincidence that the rocket the Enterprise mission will go up on is called a Vulcan Centaur?

Well, it’s kind of a coincidence. We had nothing to do with it. So, Tory Bruno, the CEO of the rocket company, ULA, United Launch Alliance, I think he sent out a survey of what to name this fantastic rocket. I don’t remember who they surveyed, but of all the respondents, it was overwhelming, Vulcan. So it was hands-down. So it was only fitting for our flight to be Enterprise on the Vulcan rocket. It’s just all kind of fallen into place.

The Enterprise mission isn’t the only payload headed to space on the Vulcan Centaur, is it?

Yeah, this is super cool. Another first for Celestis. We have two missions on one rocket. This second mission…Tranquility, is going up with Enterprise in two different sections.

So the Vulcan Centaur will launch, head towards the moon. The stages will break apart and do what they’re supposed to do. The company’s called Astrobotic, and the lander’s called the Peregrine lander. That’s what our Tranquility mission is attached to. On its way, they will break off. The Peregrine lander will make its way to the moon, and then the Centaur phase will go into a heliocentric orbit some 330 million kilometers [above the moon’s surface.]

So where that heliocentric orbit is going to be is going to be determined based on where the moon is at the time. Depending on the location of the moon, the heliocentric orbit will be between Venus and Earth or Earth and Mars. Forever.

You say Rod’s DNA is going up with the Enterprise mission. How will that work?

It’s not just ashes anymore, it’s DNA. Another great aspect of our company is you don’t have to pass away to enjoy space flight.

Several of the original Star Trek cast members, their children that are still alive have offered DNA. So Nichelle Nichols’ son Kyle, his DNA’s flying. And Wende Doohan, widow of Jimmy Doohan, her DNA is flying.

Ash in space can’t really be impacted by the radiation that’s in space, but the DNA can. Most capsules are aircraft-grade aluminum. [But] all of our DNA are flying in special titanium 5 capsules that protect them against the radiation in space.

Our goal is to have all cast members [on the Enterprise mission.] I know that Charlie is in talks to some other agents and we have high hopes that we’re going to gain some more crew.

That’s one of the great things about DNA. So, if you’re a super Star Trek fan, we have seats available. We have fly capsules available for your DNA and you can still fly with your heroes. The flight is still open. We do have a finite amount of seats for fly capsules, so while it’s open now, it won’t always be. So I would highly encourage, if you’re a true Star Trek fan and you want to go on this ride with Gene and Majel and Jimmy and Nichelle, you can do that.

Now, what are the chances of an alien race finding it and cloning us?

[laughing] You’d be surprised at how many people ask that question!

I was in a cab in Seattle. I was taking a payload for our next orbital mission and I was telling the cab driver the story and she thought it was great! And then she kind of turned on me She was like, “Wait! What if they get our DNA and they come back and they enslave us?” And she was serious! And I was like, “Well, you know. That’s a chance we’re going to have to take.

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Stay tuned to DSTN for more news and interviews about Celestis’ Enterprise mission including much more of my interviews with Youngblood, Bob Justman’s son Jonathan, and Geg Jein’s friends Sharon Lee and Bill George, coming later this year.