‘He will always be stardust’: New Zealanders find connection with space burials

Memorial spaceflights offer people in New Zealand a new way to say goodbye, sending tokens holding their ashes into orbit

On 19 January, Keryn Townsley will be hoping for a clear night sky. Her family will gather at their home in Wellington, New Zealand, to watch a live stream of a rocket launching in the US - a tradition they have observed many times in the past. But this time will be different. On board the rocket will be a small inscribed metal token holding a portion of ashes belonging to 14-year-old Remy - Townsley's rocket-loving son - who died suddenly in 2020.

His ashes will orbit Earth for up to 10 years, before crashing back through the atmosphere and burning up. He will always be stardust up there and that has meaning for us," Townsley says, of choosing to memorialise her son in what is known as a space burial".