经济学人 | 美国人开启“月葬”第一步？

A private company will send your ashes to the moon

一家私人公司可以把你的骨灰送上月球

The Navajo Nation wants the feds to stop them

纳瓦霍部落希望联邦政府阻止他们

Have you ever thought about what you want done with your body when you die? Many Americans opt for the traditional graveyard burial, others donate themselves to science.

你有没有想过死后你的遗体该如何处理？许多美国人选择传统的墓地埋葬，还有人则选择将遗体捐献给科学。

But if those don’t sound like the posthumous experience you are looking for, a Houston-based firm has something different on offer. For just $13,000—or a subscription fee of $99 per month until you pay it off—Celestis Memorial Spaceflights will send your cremated ashes to the moon.

但如果你觉得这些都不是你想要的身后事处理方式，那么一家总部位于休斯顿的公司为你提供了不同的选择。只需花费 13,000 美元（或每月支付 99 美元，直到付清为止），Celestis Memorial Spaceflights 就可以把你的骨灰送上月球。

If you choose to fly to space in an aluminium capsule the size of a lipstick tube you will be in good company. Celestis’s pioneer flight in 1997 carried the remains of Star Trek’s screenwriter, a German rocket engineer, a Princeton University professor, a restaurateur and a Japanese boy.

如果你选择乘坐一个口红管大小的铝制容器飞入太空，那么你一定不会孤单。1997 年，Celestis 的首次飞行任务搭载了《星际迷航》的编剧、一位德国火箭工程师、一位普林斯顿大学教授、一位餐厅老板以及一位日本男孩的骨灰。

In the quarter-century since, the firm has sent 2,300 capsules into orbit. It has no doubt been helped by a huge increase in the share of Americans getting cremated, from 21% in the mid-1990s to 61% today.

自那以后的20年里，该公司已将 2300个骨灰胶囊送入太空。毫无疑问，美国选择火葬的人的比例大幅增加，从20世纪90年代中期的21%增加到现在的 61%，这对该公司的发展也有很大帮助。

For some the prospect is life-changing. Don McInnis, a disabled man living in Nova Scotia who has never held a job, is only in his 50s but has already paid off 20% of his flight. He has dreamed of exploring space since he was six years old but his family always told him he wouldn’t amount to much.

对一些人来说，这一前景改变了他们的生活。唐·麦金尼斯是一位居住在新斯科舍的残疾人，他从未有过工作，现在只有50多岁，但他已经支付了他这项太空之旅 20% 的费用。他从6岁起就梦想着探索太空，但他的家人总是告诉他，他不会有什么出息。

“Because I’m disabled NASA wouldn’t take me as an astronaut, so this might be my one crack at getting into space,” he says. He plans to go on the Voyager Mission, on which he hopes to perpetually circle the sun.

他说：“因为我是一个残疾人，美国国家航空航天局不会录用我成为宇航员，所以这可能会是我唯一进入太空的机会。”他计划参加旅行者号任务，希望能永远环绕太阳飞行。

But if the Navajo Nation has its way many like Mr McInnis will remain earthbound. In January tribal leaders met with the Biden administration to try to stop Celestis from sending ashes to space. To them the moon is sacred and death a taboo. They bury their dead within days, discard their belongings and never visit grave sites.

但如果纳瓦霍部落能够如愿以偿，许多像麦金尼斯先生这样的人将仍会留在地球上。今年1月，部落首领与拜登政府会面，试图阻止 Celestis 将骨灰送入太空。对他们来说，月球是神圣的，而死亡则是禁忌。他们会在几天内埋葬死者，丢弃死者的物品，并且从不去墓地。

If the moon becomes a full-on cemetery they will have to stop performing some traditional prayer ceremonies. “It’s illegal to dump in the Grand Canyon,” says Justin Ahasteen, the head of the Navajo Washington office, “why can’t that be the US policy for space?”

如果月球变成了名副其实的墓地，他们将不得不停止进行一些传统的祈祷仪式。纳瓦霍华盛顿办事处负责人贾斯汀·阿哈斯廷说：“在大峡谷倾倒垃圾是违法的，为什么美国的太空政策不能这样呢？”

To their relief the latest moon-bound rocket burned up over the Pacific in February, with 70 capsules aboard. But since approval for commercial flights is not contingent on passing a religious test there will be more—Celestis’s next moon flight is set for 2025. Charles Chafer, the firm’s founder, considers the native plea absurd.

让他们感到欣慰的是，今年2月，最新的一枚前往月球的火箭在太平洋上空烧毁，火箭上载有70个骨灰胶囊。但由于商业飞行的批准并不需要通过宗教测试，因此还会有更多的发射计划——Celestis 的下一次月球航班定于 2025 年。该公司创始人查尔斯·查弗认为部落人的请求是荒谬的。

“In 50 years when there are 1,000 people living on the moon, somebody’s gonna die and you can’t say we can’t dispose of this person because there’s an earthbound Native American tribe that doesn’t want us to,” he says. His three pups have been to space and back and he plans to follow them. When the time comes he has one simple request: “Fly me until there is no more of me.”

他说：“50年后，当月球上有1000人居住时，总会有人死去，我们不能因为地球上有一个土著部落不希望我们这样做，就说我们不能处理这个人的遗体。”他的三只小狗已经去过太空并返回，他也打算跟着它们一起去。当那一刻到来时，他只有一个简单的请求：“让我一直飞，直到我不再存在为止。”

重难点词汇 ：

posthumous [ ˈ pɑ ː st ʃə m ə s] adj. 死后的；身后的

cremate [ ˈ kri ˌ me ɪ t] v. 火化

contingent [k ə n ˈ t ɪ nd ʒə nt] adj. 偶然的；意外的；可能的

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