We’ll spend $60 billion on our pets this year, on everything from massages to fitness centers to customized pet suites. If you think that’s something, here’s evidence we really have gone to the dogs.
A Houston-based company is now offering “a unique send-off for beloved pets by placing a portion of their cremated remains in a capsule and blasting them off into space,” Reuters reports.
SLIDESHOW: 10 Pricey Pet Splurges You Won't Believe
The company is Celestic, Inc., which since 1997 has been sending cremated human remains into space. Starting this October, it will “launch its first commercial pet memorial spaceflight with the remains of a blue merle Australian shepherd” named, naturally, Apollo, the company said.
The bare-bones fee for this space memorial is just a hairball shy of $1,000. For that price, the pet’s cremated remains travel into space aboard a commercial flight and are safely returned to the grieving (and presumably now hugely comforted) owners.
The send-off options, however, can quickly balloon to $12,000. The remains can be “launched into deep space” or can even visit the moon. "Our pet service flights are an idea that’s been a long time coming," Charles H. Chafer, CEO and founder of Celestis, told Reuters.
Related: The Insane Amounts We Spend on Our Pets
Why do all this? “Because your pet loved to explore,” explains the company on its website in a series of soothing messages. “Honor your best friend with a journey to the stars.”
Now you know why they call it the Mars Rover.
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