A woman and her pet cat had their ashes blasted off into space.
Elizabeth Garcia and her husband John spent a lot of their time traveling around the world, but never got the chance to visit space — until now.
Elizabeth, born in St. Albans, had a heart condition that estimated she had two years left to live, and less than two months after her 70th birthday, she passed away.
“They enjoyed traveling and socializing,” her sister, Jean, told Jam Press. “She was a very generous person helping family and friends without question. Her wish was for her ashes to be sent into space.”
In her research, Elizabeth discovered a company called Aura Flights, a Sheffield-based space memorial provider.
“It’s extra special doing the launch for someone you’ve spoken with so much – knowing how much she wanted to be scattered in space and being able to fulfill that for her really was a rewarding and heart-warming feeling,” Elle Lilley, the client care and liaison for the company, shared.
Her ashes were out of this world, traveling over 100,000 feet above Earth in a scatter vessel lifted by a specialist stratospheric balloon.
In January 2023, Elizabeth’s ashes were scattered across space with a photo of her attached, and it was all captured on camera for friends and family to witness.
“It was emotional, but special, knowing this was exactly what Elizabeth wanted,” Jean said. “She would have been elated with the outcome, as were we all.”
Ever since this remarkable mission, demand for the space spreading service has only increased.
“When we launched the service, there was already a cultural shift with people opting for cremations over burial and moving away from traditional funeral services towards more personalized, celebratory events,” a spokesperson for Aura Flights said.
“That change was massively accepted in the early days of the pandemic when people weren’t able to attend in-person funerals and we saw a massive uptick in inquiries that has only grown stronger since.”
