Dead cat named Pikachu to be launched into space will be forever among stars

Washington, Apr 28: Pikachu, a well-loved housecat who died in January from complications following a battle with diabetes, will be soon launched in to the space.

Space geek Steve Munt wants his cat Pikachu, who recently lost his battle with diabetes, to be among those stars.

So, to execute the mission, Munt agreed to pay $5,000 for a company called Celestis to load a few grams of his cat's remains onto a rocket (whose primary mission is to launch a satellite into orbit) and release them once in space.

Munt has now started a GoFundMe page for the mission, which has so far raised about $1,600 of its goal.

If this goes as planned, Pikachu will become the second cat to enter space. The first, a French stray named Félicette, launched in 1963 aboard the Véronique AG1 rocket, and later safely parachuted back to Earth. The space cat received international media attention, and was even featured on stamp collections.

Munt wants to aims to give Pikachu a similarly adventurous send-off.

Celestis Pets has already launched the cremated remains of two dogs into orbit, where the company says the ashes will remain until they are vaporized upon re-entering the atmosphere. The company offers a variety of space-flight memorial services for animals and humans, including one that sends "a symbolic portion of cremated remains or a DNA sample into deep space, leaving the Earth-Moon system on an infinite journey," according to the company's website.