Heading for the final frontier

A COMMERCIAL rocket has blasted off from the US with the ashes of more than 300 people, including Star Trek actor James Doohan, better known as Scotty.

The ashes are part of a consignment of supplies for the International Space Station.

The SpaceX company’s Falcon 9 rocket took flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida, yesterday carrying a capsule named Dragon that is packed with 1,000lb of space station provisions. It is the first time a private business has launched a vessel to the space station an exercise previously funded by major governments.