Stray rocket beams Scotty's ashes off course

Published on 12/05/2007 13:13

A ROCKET carrying the ashes of Scotty from Star Trek is stranded on top of a remote mountain range in New Mexico.

Actor James Doohan, who played the Starship Enterprise's Linlithgow-born chief engineer Montgomery Scott, had asked to be blasted into space after he died.

Last month a portion of his ashes, along with the remains of 200 others, boldly made the journey 70 miles up to the edge of the earth's atmosphere.

But the 20-foot rocket blew off course, made a four-minute sub-orbital flight and parachuted back down to land with a bump in the San Andres Mountains.

UP Aerospace Inc president Jerry Larson today said recovery crews have not found the crash site because of bad weather and the steep, rocky terrain. However the ashes should be recovered "within a week", he added.

Canadian-born Doohan died, aged 85, in 2005. According to Star Trek folklore, Scotty will be born in Linlithgow in 2222 and the town plans to honour its famous future son with a memorial.