CHICAGO — A Logan Square man’s heartfelt attempt to honor his late father with a symbolic space voyage ended in disappointment after a technical failure led to the loss of his remains during the rocket’s return to Earth.
Griffin Lau, 28, along with his brother, arranged to send a portion of their father’s ashes aboard a memorial spaceflight launched Monday from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. Their father, Curtis “Curt” Carson Lau, 70, was a lifelong fan of space travel and often visited NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to watch launches.
Spaceflight tribute turns tragic after capsule failure
The flight, part of Celestis’ Perseverance memorial mission, used a Falcon 9 rocket in collaboration with The Exploration Company. The plan was for the capsule carrying cremated remains to orbit Earth twice before parachuting into the Pacific Ocean, where it would be retrieved and returned to the families.
But the mission took a turn for the worse. The Nyx Mission Possible capsule experienced a parachute failure during reentry, leading to the loss of all 166 memorial remains, including those of Curtis Lau.
“We regret to share that an anomaly occurred during reentry,” said Celestis CEO Charles Chafer. “The parachute system failed, resulting in the Nyx capsule impacting the Pacific Ocean and dispersing its contents at sea. We share in the disappointment of our families.”
A personal dream grounded
Despite the loss, Griffin Lau expressed gratitude for being able to partially fulfill his father’s dream.
“It’s a bummer … but admittedly they take only a small part of the remains,” he said. “This was a wish for my father, so I appreciate the ability to share his story and memorialize him.”
Curtis Lau, a Wisconsin native and career pharmacist, passed away in July 2024. His fascination with space inspired the family’s choice to join Celestis’ space memorial service — a rising trend among space enthusiasts seeking symbolic cosmic tributes.
The growing market for memorial spaceflights
Celestis has provided space-based memorial services since 1997, allowing families to send ashes or DNA into orbit. The cost for a roundtrip Earth Rise mission like the one Lau participated in is $3,495.
Chafer said business has steadily grown over the past five years, reflecting a broader cultural embrace of commercial space travel and unconventional memorials.
“This is a reflection of how people want to celebrate lives in meaningful and unique ways,” Chafer said.
Though the ashes were unrecoverable, the spirit of the mission left a lasting impact on the Lau family and highlighted the evolving intersection between space innovation and human remembrance.
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