After a promising aeronautical engineer had a fatal crash on the last day of his apprenticeship, his grieving dad made a fitting tribute – by launching the 22-year-old´s ashes into space.
Jamie Ottaway had just completed his four-year training stint in Boscombe, Wiltshire, with technology and science company QinetiQ on May 2 2013, when he was tragically killed after his 600cc GSXR Suzuki motorcycle collided with a Mitsubishi Shogun.
In the wake of his death, his mother and father, John Ottaway, 47, and Ange Platt, 46 – also parents to his sister, Mirren, 20 – found a way to honour his wish of finding a final resting place in space.
A starry sky
Speaking of the launch for the first time, John, from Ludgershall, Wiltshire, said: “Jamie would absolutely love the fact he´d been to space. We vaguely discussed things like that before he died, and he´d say, `Don´t bury me dad, send me into space and blow me up´, but I never thought I´d actually be doing it.”
His son´s unusual request was granted thanks to an American company called Celestis, who provide memorial spaceflights costing £683 at the time, back in October 2014 – but which now cost £983 and includes a video of the launch and a mission certificate.
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