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The White House held a last-minute meeting to discuss a private mission to the moon – due to launch in days – after the largest group of Native Americans in the United States asked the administration to delay the flight because it will carrying a cremated person. still destined for a lunar burial.
If successful, the commercial mission to be launched on Monday – called Peregrine Mission One – will be the first time an American spacecraft has landed on the lunar surface since the Apollo program ended in 1972. But Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said that allowing the remains to intermingle would be frowned upon by many indigenous cultures, who revere the moon.
“The moon holds a sacred place in Navajo cosmology,” Nygren said in a statement Thursday. “The proposal to transform it into a resting place for human remains is deeply disturbing to our people and many tribal nations and unacceptable.”
The private companies that provide these lunar burial services, Celestis and Elysium Space, are just two of the many customers paying for a trip to the moon on Pittsburgh-based Peregrine’s lunar lander. The uncrewed spacecraft is expected to lift off on the inaugural flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The Celestis payload, called Tranquility Flight, contains 66 “memorial capsules” containing “cremated remains and DNA,” which will remain on the surface of the moon “as a lasting tribute to the intrepid souls who never stopped reaching for the stars,” according to the company’s website.
“We are aware of the concerns expressed by Mr. Nygren, but we do not think they are substantial,” Celestis CEO Charles Chafer told CNN.
“We reject the assertion that our commemorative mission destroys the moon’s spaceflight,” Chafer said. “Just as permanent memorials to the deceased are present all over the Earth and are not considered desecration, our memorial on the moon is treated with care and respect, it is a permanent monument that never launches a flight capsule on the moon business. It’s a fittingly relaxed celebration for our participants – the opposite of destruction, it’s a celebration.”
Elysium Space did not respond to CNN’s request for comment, but the company’s website describes its “Lunar Memorial” as a “symbolic portion of remains to the surface of the moon, which helps create the underlying commemoration.”
“I’m disappointed that this conversation came up so late in the game,” said John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic Technology. “I wish I had this conversation a long time ago. We announced the first payload demonstration of this kind for our mission back in 2015. The second in 2020. We really want to do the right thing and hopefully we can find a good path forward with Navajo Nation .”
The beginning of the lunar economy
This is not the first time the Navajo Nation has expressed concern about burials on the moon. In a December letter to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Nygren referred back to NASA’s Lunar Prospector mission, which intentionally crashed a spacecraft into the moon carrying the remains of former explorer Eugene Shoemaker.
“At the time, the President of the Navajo Nation, Albert Hale, expressed our objections to this action. In response, NASA issued a formal apology and promised to consult with tribes before authorizing any more missions that carry human remains to the Moon,” said Nygren.
Although NASA is the main customer on this mission, it is still just one customer among many paying to put technology and cargo on Astrobotic’s lunar surface.
The space agency paid Astrobotic $108 million to develop the lander and conduct science experiments to the moon, Sandra Connelly, NASA’s deputy science mission administrator, said in a press call Friday. The space agency also developed the Artemis Accords, a document that outlines what should and should not be allowed on the moon signed by the US and 32 of its allies.
“We recognize that some non-NASA commercial payloads can be a source of concern for some communities, and those communities may not understand that these are commercial missions. They are not US government missions,” said Dr. Joel Kearns, NASA’s associate deputy administrator for exploration.
Peregrine Mission One kicks off NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative, which allows the US space agency to outsource the launch and transportation of its lunar cargo to private companies. The mission is at the dawn of the lunar economy, and the rules are still changing.
“American companies bringing equipment and cargo and payloads to the moon is a whole new industry — an emerging industry — where everybody’s learning,” Kearns said. “We take very seriously, very seriously, the concerns expressed by the Navajo Nation.
Nygren, which represents about 430,000 Enrolled members of the Navajo Nation say the tribe is “not opposed to scientific progress or space exploration” but that they “remain deeply concerned about the lack of oversight and regulation of non-NASA commercial payloads, especially when they include those payloads of human remains.
Who rules the moon?
The Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation is responsible for licensing all private space launches in the US. But according to the law, the office only has oversight of matters related to “the health and safety of the public, the safety of property, and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.”
“The Federal Aviation Administration’s role is statutorily limited to ensuring that space flights do not pose a threat to the safety or national security of the United States,” a Department of Transportation spokesperson told CNN.
But Justin Ahasteen, executive director of the Navajo Nation Washington Office, calls that argument “absurd.”
“They’re basically suggesting that you can send anything into space. Does that mean people can ship drugs? Does that mean people can send hazardous material? I think the lack of oversight is a major concern for the nation,” Ahasteen told CNN.
The debate raises new questions at the start of a race to colonize the moon over who controls Earth’s only natural satellite.
“No one, and no religion, owns the moon,” said CEO Celestis’ CNN. “If the beliefs of the world’s many religions were taken into account, there is every chance that no missions would ever be allowed. Simply put, we do not and have never allowed religious beliefs to direct humanity’s space efforts. There is not and should not be a religious test.”
Ahasteen insists that the Navajo Nation’s intention is not to claim the moon.
“We’re saying be respectful. We are turning the moon into a graveyard and we are turning it into a waste site,” said Ahasteen. “At what point do we stop and say we need to start protecting the moon like we do the Grand Canyon?”
Friday’s meeting held by the White House is scheduled to be attended by representatives from NASA, the FAA, the US Department of Transportation, and the Department of Commerce. But Navajo Nation officials have little hope that they will be able to stop Monday’s launch.
“Based on what we’re seeing, with NASA already providing pre-launch information, it doesn’t appear that they have any intention of stopping the launch or removing the remains,” Ahasteen said.
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