Rocket carrying Waterloo man's ashes headed into space

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Udo Petersen’sremains were on board the lunar landerand would not make theirintended journey into space. This article has been corrected.

The ashes of a Waterloo entrepreneur successfully blasted off into space on Monday.

The remains of entrepreneur Udo Petersen, as well as the DNA from other famous names, were on board the ULA Vulcan rocket that lifted off at 2:18 a.m. EST from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

On board the Enterprise Flight were also ashes or DNA of several notable figures : “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, “Star Trek” star Nichelle Nichols, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, and U.S. presidents George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy.

UDO’S STORY

Udo Petersen’s emigrated from Germany to Canada in 1967 and would go on to become a successful businessman.

He co-founded Bend All Tools & Machines in New Dundee, Ont. in 1976 with only three employees. The company, later known as Bend All Automotive, would expand and eventually have more than 1,200 workers.

Pedersen founded Ridge at Manitou, an 18-hole golf course in McKellar, Ont., after retirement.

His family said he had a lifelong passion for astronomy and was always curious about the possibility of life beyond our planet.

“When he got sick, he had a massive brain hemorrhage,” his daughter Nicole told CTV News in Dec. 2023. “He didn't remember a lot of things but he still remembered his curiosity about the world and what is out there. He used to say to us: ‘There's a place out there, there's another world.’”

Pedersen died in Sept. 2021.

His daughters were the ones who came up with the idea of sending his ashes into space.

“[The capsule is] going 330 million kilometres out into what's called a heliocentric orbit around the sun,” Colby Youngblood, president of the memorial spaceflight company Celestis, said.

The average cost for a deep space burial is $13,000 USD, sub-orbital options start at $3,000 USD and orbital missions are over $5,000.

TROUBLE IN SPACE

Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander was also on board the Vulcan Rocket.

It ran into trouble just hours after it left Earth.

According to Astrobotic, the lunar lander experienced a “critical” fuel leak seven hours after it began its journey and had “no chance” of a soft landing on the moon.

It was the first U.S. attempt at a moon landing in more than 50 years.

In this photo provided by United Launch Alliance, the Astrobotic Peregrine lunar lander is prepared for encapsulation in a payload fairing for launch atop a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket in Cape Canaveral, Fla., in December 2023. The expected launch date is Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. (United Launch Alliance via AP)