# Are there any humans whose remains are not on Earth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 23, 2020, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660 "2020-10-23T08:41:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/1 "2020-10-23T08:41:43Z")
The question is inspired by [this article](https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/michael-collins-picture-1969/) discussing an iconic photo of the Apollo 11 lunar lander on its way back to the orbital rendezvous with the command module; Earth is rising in the background. It claims that the photo contains all of humanity, alive or dead, either on Earth in the background or (Armstrong and Aldrin) in the lunar lander; the only exception is Michael Collins, who took the picture from the command module. That made me wonder whether this is really true as far as the dead members of humanity are concerned. Are there any humans whose remains are not on Earth? Would have to be an astronaut or cosmonaut who died during a mission and whose body never returned to Earth; or someone whose remains were launched after death. I know that Gene Roddenberry’s ashes were launched into space, but they have meanwhile burnt up in the Earth’s atmosphere, which I think can be counted as a return to his home planet. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/2 "2020-10-23T09:02:27Z")
At the time of Apollo 11 it was true. Some of this guy’s ashes have since been scattered on the moon, although since the photo by Collins contains the moon, I guess it would still be true if someone took a similar photo today. > **[Eugene Merle Shoemaker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Merle_Shoemaker)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Eugene Merle Shoemaker (April 28, 1928 – July 18, 1997) was an American geologist. He co-discovered Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 with his wife Carolyn S. Shoemaker and David H. Levy. This comet hit Jupiter in July 1994: the impact was televised around the world. Shoemaker also studied terrestrial craters, such as Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona, and along with Edward Chao provided the first conclusive evidence of its origin as an impact crater. He wa... Three cosmonauts are the only people to die in space, but their bodies came back to earth. > **[Only Three People Have Died in Space](https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/only-three-people-have-died-in-space)** > > Georgi Dobrovolski, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev are the only people who have died in space. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/3 "2020-10-23T09:17:38Z")
Some (but not all) of [Clyde Tombaugh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Tombaugh)’s ashes were placed on the New Horizon space probe, which did a close fly-by of Pluto and which is currently out in the Kuiper Belt and still outward bound. ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/4 "2020-10-23T10:21:48Z")
In the St. George’s Parish Episcopalian Church’s cemetery near Perryman and Aberdeen proving Grounds, Maryland, lies, or rather, hangs, the remains of a seaman named John Clark Monk, who in the 1820s had himself “buried” in midair. As I remember the story (I have several ancestors conventionally interred there) his corpse was wrapped in sheet lead. As a little boy I remember lying flat and peering between bars set in the stone curbing of a stone-lined pit at a person-shaped container suspended by chains. The story then, 60 – 70 years ago, was that Monk was a curmudgeon, disaffected with life at sea, while despising the idea of being planted in the ground, resulting in his instructions to be buried in neither. As I say, this was the story I got. The Baltimore Sun printed a story about ten years ago that was both more detailed and less definite; lots of speculation and “don’t really know” there. Not exactly what the OP was looking for? Oh, well… Dan ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/5 "2020-10-23T11:36:15Z")
Wikipedia has a list of [notable people buried in space](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_burial#Notable_individuals_buried_in_space). The sub-list there of people whose remains have left Earth orbit is precisely two: Shoemaker & Tombaugh, both mentioned up-thread. A company called [Elysium Space](https://elysiumspace.com/launch-schedule/) appears to be planning to send more ashes to the Moon in 2021. Apparently this will be done as part of [Astrobiotic Technology’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrobotic_Technology) attempt to put a lander on the Moon. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/6 "2020-10-23T13:07:19Z")
Note that even if you cremate a body and send the ashes far into space, most of the remains are still the carbon dioxide and water vapor that stay here on Earth. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/7 "2020-10-23T15:36:00Z")
There’s also this idea of **[Lost Cosmonauts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cosmonauts)** which are thought to be pretty much BS, but not logically impossible. Even if such cosmonauts had gotten stranded and died up there, they’d have been in a low enough orbit that their remains would be all but certain to have re-entered by now. And even if not by 1969, they’d be included in Collins’ famous picture since their low earth orbit is just barely outside the visible atmosphere as seen from the Moon’s distance. I know the OP didn’t exactly mean this, but clearly anyone born after Collins clicked the shutter is not in that picture. If some people have since been born, died, and boosted into space _a la_ Rodenberry or Dr. Shoemaker, them being off planet wouldn’t invalidate Collins’ picture. Roddenberry & Shoemaker specifically were of course both plenty alive in 1969, walking the surface of Earth, and included in the pic. But anyone under roughly age 50 now is post-picture. This picture was taken 30 years ago from a very long way out. Every human is within this field of view. > **[Voyager 1's Pale Blue Dot | NASA Solar System Exploration](https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/536/voyager-1s-pale-blue-dot/)** > > The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of Earth taken Feb. 14, 1990, by NASA’s Voyager 1 when it was 3.7 billion miles (6 billion kilometers) from the Sun. Here’s an interesting page/article about Earth as seen from the other planets. > **[What Earth looks like from other planets](https://astronomy.com/news/2017/04/cassinis-final-image-of-earth)** > > NASA released Cassini’s final image of Earth. As New Horizons keeps going outbound, it gets harder and harder to take a pic incorporating all current and prior humans; Clyde Tombaugh is the true outlier of outliers. In fact even a pic taken by New Horizons won’t do it unless the tidbit of the spacecraft where he’s stored is in the image. But we can readily take a pic the other way. e.g. one from Earth orbit that shows the whole Earth in the foreground with New Horizons in the (very!) distant background captures everybody. At least until we have multiple such probes with remains heading out in radically different directions. Such fun. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/8 "2020-10-23T15:41:10Z")
Enoch, who walked with God, was taken into heaven bodily after living a mere 300 years. Centuries later, Elijah went to heaven in a chariot of fire. Maybe it was on fire from entering Earth’s atmosphere? ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/9 "2020-10-23T15:54:35Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > Wikipedia has a list of [notable people buried in space](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_burial#Notable_individuals_buried_in_space). The sub-list there of people whose remains have left Earth orbit is precisely two: Shoemaker & Tombaugh, both mentioned up-thread. Shoemaker’s remains are still in Earth orbit, along with the rest of the moon. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum\_45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum_45/32/3385_2.png) [@eburacum\_45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum_45)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/10 "2020-10-23T15:54:53Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Even if such cosmonauts had gotten stranded and died up there, they’d have been in a low enough orbit that their remains would be all but certain to have re-entered by now. Come on. Everything in Earth orbit down to 10 centimetres is being tracked. Nothing large enough to contain a human would be undetected, even in the Sixties. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/11 "2020-10-23T16:10:44Z")
Of course. My point isn’t that the lost cosmonauts CT is real. It’s that even if somebody was left up there, they’d still be in Collins’ picture. As well, depending on how the imaginary ill-fated cosmonauts mission imaginarily went wrong, they could easily be in their capsule attached to a second or third stage that never fired, or fired wrongly. Said stage being still up there wandering around, whether in 1969 or in 2020. IOW, it was and is fully tracked and the tracking folks know exactly _where_ it is. And know mostly _what_ it is. But they don’t know _exactly_ what’s inside it. Cue spooky Halloween music & cut to commercial. This Discovery Channel CT-centric junk “science” show will be right back! ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/12 "2020-10-23T17:18:47Z")
Fine, _Low Earth_ orbit. (And a tip of the hat; pedant game recognize pedant game.) ---
**Author:** ![DreamsOfACheetah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@DreamsOfACheetah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreamsOfACheetah)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/13 "2020-10-23T17:26:56Z")
I thought I remember reading that USSR had at least some unreported space casualties where the astronaut(s) involved died and it was covered up, to the point where these people were erased from photos. No idea if any of their bodies made it back to earth or not. Can anyone confirm or deny this? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/14 "2020-10-23T17:29:51Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > Wikipedia has a list of [notable people buried in space](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_burial#Notable_individuals_buried_in_space). The sub-list there of people whose remains have left Earth orbit is precisely two: Shoemaker & Tombaugh, both mentioned up-thread. > > A company called [Elysium Space](https://elysiumspace.com/launch-schedule/) appears to be planning to send more ashes to the Moon in 2021. Apparently this will be done as part of [Astrobiotic Technology’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrobotic_Technology) attempt to put a lander on the Moon. Do you want space zombies? Because that’s how you get space zombies. ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/15 "2020-10-23T17:50:00Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Shoemaker’s remains are still in Earth orbit, along with the rest of the moon. That’s no moon! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/16 "2020-10-23T17:56:06Z")
> [@DreamsOfACheetah](#): > > I thought I remember reading that USSR had at least some unreported space casualties where the astronaut(s) involved died and it was covered up, to the point where these people were erased from photos. No idea if any of their bodies made it back to earth or not. Can anyone confirm or deny this? You mean like my paragraph up in post #6?? > [@LSLGuy](#): > > There’s also this idea of **[Lost Cosmonauts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cosmonauts)** which are thought to be pretty much BS, but not logically impossible. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum\_45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum_45/32/3385_2.png) [@eburacum\_45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum_45)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/17 "2020-10-23T17:59:36Z")
I can deny this. Some people died in accidents on Earth and in aircraft accidents, and some were erased from photos for various reasons, but none died in space. Here’s James Oberg on the phantom dead cosmonauts, none of whom made it into space. [http://www.jamesoberg.com/phantoms.html](http://www.jamesoberg.com/phantoms.html) One poor chap died in an oxygen chamber on Earth when some scraps caught fire and killed him. Shades of Apollo 1. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/18 "2020-10-23T18:00:28Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > You mean like my paragraph up in post #6?? The information was buried in the 6th post of a 16-post thread, where nobody would think to look. You’re obviously in bed with the Russians in this attempt at a cover-up. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum\_45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum_45/32/3385_2.png) [@eburacum\_45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum_45)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/19 "2020-10-23T18:06:58Z")
Here’s the cosmonaut who died in a high-oxygen hypobaric chamber > **[Valentin Bondarenko](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_Bondarenko)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Valentin Vasylovych Bondarenko (Ukrainian: Валентин Васильович Бондаренко, Russian: Валентин Васильевич Бондаренко; 16 February 1937 – 23 March 1961) was a Soviet fighter pilot selected in 1960 for training as a cosmonaut. He died as the result of burns sustained in a fire during a 15-day low-pressure endurance experiment in Moscow. The Soviet government concealed the death, along with Bondarenko's membership in the cosmonaut corps, until 1980. A ... His existence was covered up until 1980, and he was airbrushed out of photos. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660/20 "2020-10-23T18:11:26Z")
The fact poor **Bondarenko** ’s crater is on the far side of the Moon never to be seen by 99.999999% of humanity shows that the Soviet-era cover-up habit dies hard. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-humans-whose-remains-are-not-on-earth/923660.md?page=2)