After a promising aeronautical engineer had a fatal crash on the last day of his apprenticeship, his grieving dad made a fitting tribute – by launching the 22-year-old’s ashes into space.
Jamie Ottaway had just completed his four-year training stint in Boscombe, Wiltshire, with technology and science company QinetiQ on May 2 2013, when he was tragically killed after his 600cc GSXR Suzuki motorcycle collided with a Mitsubishi Shogun.
In the wake of his death, his mother and father, John Ottaway, 47, and Ange Platt, 46 – also parents to his sister, Mirren, 20 – found a way to honour his wish of finding a final resting place in space.
Speaking of the launch for the first time, John, from Ludgershall, Wiltshire, said: “Jamie would absolutely love the fact he’d been to space. We vaguely discussed things like that before he died, and he’d say, ‘Don’t bury me dad, send me into space and blow me up’, but I never thought I’d actually be doing it.”
His son’s unusual request was granted thanks to an American company called Celestis, who provide memorial spaceflights costing £683 at the time, back in October 2014 – but which now cost £983 and includes a video of the launch and a mission certificate.
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