Steve Munt loved his cat Pikachu, so much that he overfed him and gave him feline diabetes, but also so much that he intends on blasting Pikachu's remains into space.
And believe it or not...
There's an entire service dedicated to such a thing called Celestis, who specialises in the launch of remains into space, although they usually only have 2 legs.
Celestis describe themselves as "... the only company to have successfully conducted Memorial Spaceflight missions, the only company to have been selected by NASA to honour one of its scientists, and for more than two decades an iconic pioneer and global leader of the commercial space age."
I bet when they wrote that they did not anticipate punching a ticket for a diabetic cat named after a character from an anime.
When prompted for some further detail, Munt said “I wanted Pikachu to be the first, continue his legacy as an explorer and show the world that a cat is just as worthy as a dog of a special tribute,”
K.
Munt has apparently already paid the fee for Pikachu and is using a GoFundMe to make some of the money back. To date, he has raised Munt has raised $2742 AU of his goal.
To clarify, Pikachu is not the first cat into space as that honour belongs to Felicette, the cat sent into space by French scientists in 1963. Pikachu will be the first dead cat in space.
The launch date for Pikachu is undetermined at this time, but we will certainly keep you in the loop. Go softly into the deep, our sweet Pikachu.
#Space_Aus
