Navajo Nation opposes plans to send human remains to the moon

Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The Navajo Nation is protesting the planned delivery of human remains to the moon as part of an unmanned lunar launch scheduled for Monday.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said in a statement issued Friday that plans to deliver the cremated remains and DNA of 66 individuals aboard Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lunar lander, set to launch Monday, would amount to the desecration of the moon, which the Navajo consider a sacred site.

"The placement of human remains on the moon is a profound desecration of this celestial body revered by our people," Nygren said. "This act disregards past agreements and promises of respect and consultation between NASA and the Navajo Nation, notably following the Lunar Prospector mission."

The Peregrin Mission One launch would be the first lunar mission launched from the United States to touch down on the moon since NASA ended its Apollo missions in 1972. Although the mission is unmanned, it would deliver the cremated remains to the moon.

During the 1999 Lunar Prospector mission, NASA intentionally crash-landed a spacecraft on the moon, carrying the cremated remains of scientist Eugene Shoemaker, who founded astrogeology and is the co-discoverer of the Shoemaker-Levy comet that eventually impacted Jupiter, according to the Lowell Milken Center.

Shoemaker was the first person whose remains were sent to the moon.

Nygren said officials for NASA and the Department of Transportation should have consulted with indigenous tribes and nations before planning a permanent lunar memorial containing remains. The flight would land on the moon's northeastern portion where the 66 capsules would remain.

The mission is a joint commercial endeavor between Celestis and Elysium Space and is being carried into space aboard an unmanned lunar lander owned and operated by Astrobotic Technology. A Vulcan Centaur Rocket owned and operated by United Launch Alliance will send the lunar lander into space.

Celestis CEO Charles Chafer disagrees with the notion that the flight would be offensive.

"We reject the assertion that our memorial Space mission desecrates the moon," Chafer 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 [and] is a permanent monument that does not intentionally eject flight capsules on the moon."