Ryan Mitchell Launches Space Beyond to Send Ashes to Space
Ryan Mitchell, a former manufacturing engineer who worked on NASA’s space shuttle program and spent nearly a decade at Blue Origin, has founded a startup called Space Beyond. The idea for Space Beyond came to Mitchell while attending a family member’s ash-spreading ceremony, where he realized there could be a better way to memorialize loved ones.
Space Beyond’s flagship program, “Ashes to Space,” will use CubeSats to send up to 1,000 people’s ashes to space in one mission. The company recently signed a launch services agreement with Arrow Science and Technology to integrate the CubeSat on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission scheduled for October 2027.
While sending ashes to space is not a new concept, Space Beyond aims to make it more affordable with prices starting at just $249. This is made possible through the rideshare model, which has democratized access to space and reduced costs significantly.
Despite the limitations of the CubeSat format, such as only allowing for one gram of ashes per customer and a five-year orbital lifespan, Mitchell sees benefits in this approach. The CubeSat will orbit at a high altitude of around 550 kilometers, allowing customers to track its location and witness its fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
Space Beyond will not physically spread ashes in space to avoid creating debris clouds that could endanger other spacecraft. Instead, customers can decide what to do with the remaining ashes of their loved ones.
For Mitchell, founding Space Beyond was a passion project that he couldn’t ignore, despite initial doubts about its feasibility. His dedication to the idea and the engineering rigor applied to its development convinced him that it was worth pursuing.
With Space Beyond, Mitchell aims to offer a unique and affordable way for people to honor their loved ones by sending a symbolic part of them into the final frontier.
