The final sendoff for a Northeast Ohio native promises to be out of this world—literally. On Christmas Eve, Donna Jeanne Chapman will embark on an infinite journey through space with the likes of presidents, astronauts and the creator of Star Trek.
Chapman was born in Lakewood and considered family, especially her three children, her whole world.
“She was heavily involved in the band boosters, PTA growing up. Even though you’re like, ‘Oh mom’s at the school.’ You kind of get embarrassed. But you look back on it and realize, ‘Oh, she just really cared and wanted to be part of our lives,’” said David Cobb, Chapman’s son.
Cobb fondly recalled his mother’s penchant for the Disney movie Dumbo and its message to believe in yourself. He also shared his favorite photo of the two of them dancing at her wedding, with Chapman looking up at her son mid-laugh.
“Just seeing her smile, look up at me, it just shows that true moment of how happy she was,” Cobb said.
He explained the two also shared a love and fascination of space. Chapman grew up watching the Star Trek series. As an adult, she would help her son build rockets and star gaze through telescopes.
“She would just stop mid-conversation and just talk about how big the moon is. You’d be in an in-depth conversation, and she’d just stop in her tracks and walk outside or have us look,” he recalled.
Cobb said his world came crashing down when his mother was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and sepsis following a heart ablation surgery last year.
“She was taken to the hospital a month from the day of surgery and it happens to be on her wedding anniversary on Nov.12. So it was a lot happening with that, a lot to take in. Then she passed peacefully on the 15th,” he explained.
While making his mother’s funeral arrangements, Cobb discovered a fitting way to pay tribute to her life.
“She brought me into this world, so she gave me [the world],” he said. “So it’s like my opportunity to give her the universe and do something different.”
On December 24, 2023, some of Chapman’s cremated remains will board a rocket called “Vulcan Centaur” at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The United Launch Alliance (ULA) rocket will launch a payload from Celestis Memorial Spaceflights into deep space.
The “Enterprise Flight” will then become known as the “Enterprise Station” when it floats into an infinite orbit in a distant part of the solar system.
“Those capsules will be the furthest repository of our civilization out into the solar system,” explained Colby Youngblood, the president of Celestis Memorial Spaceflights.
The company has been sending remains, DNA and messages into space since 1997.
Fittingly, the “Enterprise Flight” will be carrying capsules of cremated remains of the creator and several original cast members from the Star Trek series, as well as an Apollo astronaut. It will also include certified DNA from U.S. Presidents George Washington, John F. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower.
Along with the well-known DNA aboard the flight, Youngblood said it’s been the company’s mission to make symbolic space travel possible for less famous individuals.
“Access to space is a real thing; access to the moon is a real thing. You can really do it,” he said.
Youngblood acknowledged the concept may seem outlandish to some. But for others, he said, it’s been a unique way to honor their loved ones.
Chapman’s family described the experience as healing. Cobb said it’s helped give him a sense of closure.
“We did a service for the family in January, but that happened to be two days after my birthday. So I didn't want to leave it at that,” he said. “I knew that day that that wasn't the last step. There was more to this story. And now I found the puzzle piece.”
He said he likes to imagine the spaceflight will have his mother dancing with the stars.
“I get another dance with her, but now our dance floor is going to be a launch pad,” Cobb said.
Depending on the trajectory of the rocket, Youngblood said the Enterprise Station will likely end up orbiting the sun between Earth and Mars or Earth and Venus.
