/ 11 August 2006

Beijing shoots down plan to send ashes into space

The Beijing city government has turned down an undertaker’s application to send human ashes into space, state media said Friday.

A funeral home’s proposal to charge 100 000 yuan ($12 500) each for sending two clients’ ashes into space was turned down on the grounds that there was no law regulating space burials, Xinhua news agency reported.

The company had planned to launch a container the size of a lipstick carrying the ashes into space by rocket, the report said.

The manager of the funeral home said he would appeal the decision by the city’s civil affairs bureau because the country had never outlawed space funeral services. — AFP