The Minotaur I Rocket launches from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia December 16, 2006, in the first launch from the regional spaceport.
The economic slump is producing some wacky money-making ideas — and perhaps none crazier than the latest to emerge from the cash-strapped commonwealth of Virginia.
In a bid to boost the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, lawmakers in the Old Dominion State have proposed a tax break for people wanting to be buried in space, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Since NASA nixed its space-shuttle program, the spaceport has been searching for ways to generate additional income and hit upon the notion of tapping those not so into a six-feet-under burial. The bizarre bill, to be debated by the legislature’s General Assembly in 2012, would provide an income tax deduction up to $8,000 a year.
Space burials, in which cremated remains are typically sent into orbit, date back to 1997. Among those whose ashes have reportedly headed for infinity and beyond? Star Trek actor James Doohan.