Human remains mission to the moon draws criticism from Navajo Nation

The head of the largest Native American tribe has criticized NASA and commercial companies over plans to send human remains to the moon on a rocket set to blast off from the Space Coast on Monday.

Representing nearly 400,000 people, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said he sent a letter in December to NASA and the U.S. Department of Transportation with concerns over a planned Monday launch of commercial company Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine lunar lander because some of its payloads involve human remains headed to the moon where they would become a permanent memorial.

“The placement of human remains on the moon is a profound desecration of this celestial body revered by our people,” he said in a statement posted to Facebook on Thursday. “This act disregards past agreements and promises of respect and consultation between NASA and the Navajo Nation, notably following the Lunar Prospector mission in 1998.”

That mission sent the remains of geologist Eugene Shoemaker within a capsule aboard a probe commanded to crash land into the moon. Following criticism for that decision, NASA made a pledge to confer with Native American tribes on future plans, Nygren said. He also pointed out the Biden Administration has a memorandum in place that directs federal agencies to consult any decision regarding indigenous sacred sites.

“I have continuously followed up urging for the immediate postponement of the launch and the commencement of consultations to address the matter,” he stated. “I stand by the position that both NASA and the USDOT should have conducted consultations with Indigenous tribes before contracting with or issuing payload certificates for missions that involve the transport of human remains to the moon.”

He also met with White House officials Friday but said there was no intention to delay the mission or remove the payloads before Monday’s planned liftoff atop a United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during a 45-minute window that opens at 2:18 a.m.

“I know that we should have been notified instead of trying to respond days out,” he said in a press conference after the meeting Friday. “That’s kind of how I consider it. It was days out from the actual launch that we issued the letter, and if we didn’t issue the letter, these discussions wouldn’t have been happening.”

The payloads from Celestis Inc. and Elysium Space are dubbed memorial spaceflights that carry symbolic portions of paying customers’ remains. Astrobotic is flying them among 20 payloads to help augment the cost of the mission.

The Pittsburgh-based company was paid $108 million by NASA with a task to fly five of the 20 payloads as part of a contract under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. Astrobotic is responsible for building the lander, getting a launch service provider and all the communication to get the lander on the moon.

NASA is a customer under this program, which has several commercial companies lined up for future moon landings.

“I’ve been disappointed that this conversation came up so late in the game,” said Astrobotic CEO John Thornton during a Friday press conference at Kennedy Space Center. “I would have liked to have had this conversation a long time ago. We announced the first payload manifest of this nature to our mission back in 2015 — a second in 2020. We really are trying to do the right thing and I hope we can find a good path forward with Navajo Nation.”

Celestis CEO Charles Chafer told CNN he disagrees with the notion that his company’s efforts are any form of desecration.

“We are aware of the concerns expressed by Mr. Nygren, but do not find them substantive,” he told CNN. “Just as permanent memorials for deceased are present all over planet Earth and not considered desecration, our memorial on the moon is handled with care and reverence, is a permanent monument that does not intentionally eject flight capsules on the moon. It is a touching and fitting celebration for our participants — the exact opposite of desecration, it is a celebration.”

NASA officials noted that as a commercial endeavor, it has limited say on what actually flies.

“We recognize that some non-NASA commercial payloads can be a cause for concern to some communities, and those communities may not understand that these missions are commercial,” said Joel Kearns, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration in the Science Mission Directorate during a Thursday press conference. “They’re not U.S. government missions.”

Nygren, though, said he thinks any mission NASA has a hand in should also respect previous agreements.

“Into the future, one of the things I want to do is continue to collaborate and work with them as they move on to further missions to make sure that NASA does have a big say on that,” he said. “Maybe there’s an agreement between tribal nations and the Navajo Nation as well that if NASA is going to be a part of a mission, then they shouldn’t be transporting human remains to the moon in respect to honoring the promise that NASA made with the Navajo Nation back in the ’90s.”

Nygren said other aspects of NASA and commercial company plans for the moon are not at issue.

“We’re not trying to claim the moon. We’re not trying to claim the sky or the universe or anything like that, but you should do it and respect what is the most sacred of all … human life,” he said. “We’re created here and this is where we should end.”

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