At Space Beyond, our mission has always been the same: make space accessible for everyone. I just hadn’t thought all the way through who “everyone” included.
I started hearing it from friends and family almost as soon as I launched Ashes to Space. I’d get to the price, and someone’s eyes would light up:
“At that price, people are going to want to fly their pets too.“
I heard it enough times that I couldn’t ignore it. So today, I’m glad to introduce Ashes to Space for Pets, the same real orbital mission we’ve always offered, now available for the companions who were part of our families too.
Why We Built It This Way
I grew up with a scrappy street cat named Oreo, who spent countless hours with me on my porch as a teenager and moved with me into my first home as an adult. Years later, right after I got married, a lab named Jayda joined our family and stayed with us through our early years as parents, patient even when our kids got a little rough with our two aging pets. Taking each of them to the vet, at the end, were two of the hardest drives I’ve ever done.
I know what it’s like to still be holding onto that kind of loss, and I know how little room the world sometimes makes for grieving a pet the way you’d grieve anyone else you loved. This felt like something worth building for.
How It Works
Ashes to Space for Pets works exactly the way our human memorials do. A symbolic portion of your companion’s cremated remains, about a gram, is integrated and sealed inside the Remembrance spacecraft, in a section built specifically for pets. In October 2027, it launches into Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, where it stays for approximately five years before a natural reentry. The rest of the ashes stay with you, completely, to do whatever feels right to you.
Space memorials for pets aren’t new, other companies have offered them for over a decade. But until now, they’ve always cost several thousand dollars. We built this to cost $249.
What’s Included
- A symbolic portion launched into Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
- Your companion’s name entered into flight records
- A digital certificate of inclusion
- Flight tracking and mission updates throughout the journey
- The option to create an Ashtronaut Tribute page telling their story
- Optional engraving of their name on the exterior of the spacecraft, +$50
Alongside the launch, we’ve also published a free guide, Beyond the Rainbow Bridge, covering every real option for a pet’s ashes, not just this one, with honest costs for each. If you’re not sure yet, that’s the place to start.
Rest Among the Stars
They were always by your side. Now you can look up, from anywhere, and know they’re still there.