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Navajo Nation reject sending human remains in Moon mission

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Issam Ahmed and Lucie Aubourg, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Earth" s="" moon.="" Image="" by="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/overseas/11/16/20211116-moon.jpg"/><figcaption>Earth&#x27;s moon. <em>Image by NASA, JPL,USGS</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>WASHINGTON - The United States will soon launch its first spacecraft to attempt a soft lunar landing since the Apollo era, in a historic collaboration with the private sector -- but not everyone is celebrating.</p><p>The Navajo Nation, America&#x27;s largest Indigenous tribe, has raised concerns over the presence of human cremated remains on the lander vehicle, calling the mission a &quot;desecration&quot; of the Moon which holds a sacred place in their culture.</p><p>On January 8, Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic&#x27;s Peregrine lander is set to hitch a ride on a giant United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket making its maiden voyage under a NASA commercial partnership aimed at saving the US space agency money.</p><p>Peregrine&#x27;s scientific instruments will probe for lunar surface radiation, helping NASA better prepare for crewed missions going there later this decade under the Artemis program.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/03/09/22/china-eyes-exploratory-work-on-moon-base-by-2024">China hopes to start exploratory work on base on the moon by 2024, says leading lunar scientist</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/classified-odd/03/28/23/scientists-discover-water-inside-glass-beads-on-the-moon">Scientists discover water inside glass beads on the Moon</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/30/23/after-50-years-us-to-return-to-moon">After 50 years, US to return to Moon on January 25</a></li></ul><p>But the boxy robot&#x27;s manifest also includes payloads from two companies -- Elysium Space and Celestis -- that will contain cremated remains and DNA to stay on the Moon, inside the lander, forever.</p><p>While Elysium hasn&#x27;t offered details, Celestis has 69 individual &quot;participants&quot; including late Star Trek creator Gene Rodenberry, sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke, and a dog named Indica-Noodle Fabiano.</p><p>Customers paid prices starting at $12,995, according to the company&#x27;s website.</p><p>In a December 21 letter addressed to officials at NASA and the Department of Transportation, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren expressed what he called &quot;our deep concern and profound disappointment regarding a matter of utmost importance,&quot; and called for NASA to delay the launch.</p><p>&quot;The Moon holds a sacred position in many Indigenous cultures, including ours,&quot; Nygren wrote.</p><p>&quot;The act of depositing human remains and other materials, which could be perceived as discards in any other location, on the Moon is tantamount to desecration of this sacred space.&quot;</p><div><strong>NASA promises meeting</strong></div><p>Nygren added the situation was reminiscent of the Lunar Prospector mission launched in 1998 by NASA, which intentionally crashed a probe into the Moon&#x27;s surface. On board were the remains of renowned geologist Eugene Shoemaker.</p><p>Then, too, the Navajo voiced objections. NASA apologized and committed to consult with Native Americans in future, according to a contemporary report in The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington.</p><p>NASA&#x27;s deputy associate administrator for exploration Joel Kearns said Thursday an intergovernmental team had arranged a meeting with the Navajo Nation, but added the agency had no control over its private partner&#x27;s payloads.</p><p>&quot;We take concerns expressed from the Navajo Nation very, very, seriously, and we think we&#x27;re going to be continuing on this conversation,&quot; Kearns told reporters.</p><p>Celestis was less conciliatory.</p><p>&quot;We respect all cultures&#x27; right to engage in religious practices, but no single culture or religion should exercise a veto on space missions based on religious tenets,&quot; the company said.</p><p>Denying that the mission &quot;desecrates the Moon,&quot; it stressed the material would remain aboard the lander rather than being deposited on the surface.</p><p>Kearns said NASA&#x27;s growing private partnerships could lead to &quot;changes to how we view this&quot; or to establishing industry standards.</p><p>It won&#x27;t be the first human DNA left on the barren celestial body -- that distinction belongs to the almost 100 bags of feces and urine left behind by American astronauts during the 1969-1972 Apollo lunar landings.</p><p>ia/mlm</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8dPplEzvLJo?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The United States will soon launch its first spacecraft to attempt a soft lunar landing since the Apollo era, in a historic collaboration with the private sector -- but not everyone is celebrating.

Navajo Nation reject sending human remains in Moon mission

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Navajo Nation reject sending human remains in Moon mission

Issam Ahmed and Lucie Aubourg,

Agence France-Presse

Published Jan 05, 2024 08:15 AM PHT

Read More:

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moon

moon mission

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