Moon Memorial Space Flight

I have decided to write this website in memory of my darling husband Chris Icough who sadly and heart breakingly passed away on the 11th April, 2011.

Chris loved the stars, planets, nebulae, gas clouds, black holes and anything that was basically straight up! He would spend hours staring at the night sky with his Meade Telescope, his friend Dick Horrix often wondered what all the fuss was about until he came to visit us for a holiday one year and went to sit with Chris on our roof terrace. After a while he realised why Chris enjoyed sitting alone on a roof - peace and quiet! Dick thought perhaps he might get into this astronomy hobby one day himself hahaha. Astronomy had fascinated Chris from such a young age and this hobby stayed with him until the age of 43, he became one of the best amateur astronomers, winning some great photography awards and writing some interesting plug-ins for all astronomers to use to process their images. Chris will now be laid to rest on the surface of the moon so I decided to involve all his friends and family and raise some of the money so I can send him on the Celestis Luna Service.

The Celestis upcoming Luna Memorial Spaceflight is their second Luna mission, Luna 02, planned for 2012/2013..

For those who don't know Chris Icough he was a very talented man who was into physics, maths, science, programming, photography and astronomy. He was always working on something whether it be his programming, writing plug ins for astronomy users or trying to crack physics codes and laws - his brain never stopped thinking or plotting and he never stopped talking (which of course I loved and now miss very much)! Apart from his love of all things science he was a very caring, funny man who never had a bad word to say about anyone. He kept himself to himself but did enjoy a party and a drink of vodka with his good friends. If Chris was having a bad day he would enjoy spending time with his chickens, he spolit them rotten with sausages and sweetcorn but they gave him relief from stress so who cares! He always made me laugh, made me feel safe and was there for me every single day whether that be for Scoliosis support (he would even shave my legs for me!), work or just a kiss and a cuddle. I was always very proud of his achievements no matter how small or large they were. He was my best friend, lover, husband, business partner and confidant and I will miss him deeply until the day I die.

Chris Icough was born on the 16th March 1968, he has a sister Michelle Icough, a brother Paul Icough and a younger brother Mark Icough who sadly died many years ago - he came from a loving family who are all very similar in sense of humour and kindness. His parents are Martin Icough and Gillian Icough who did a great job in raising such a wonderfully talented man, one who cared about others and would light up a room with his broad dimpled smile. I am proud to be his wife but extremely shocked and heart broken that our love was ended so tragically.

I am lucky in some ways, however, as I have always felt loved and cherished by my extended family, including my sister-in-law Tina Icough so it is now my wish to be near Chris' family and my own so we can draw strength from one another and somehow heal as best as we can. I will miss Chris every single day and when I think about him it is like someone is cutting me with a knife, it is difficut to lose someone dear to you, even more so when you lived, breathed, worked and socialised together. We always said to one another "me and you against the world babe". I know I will never find love again but it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all (so I am told). My only purpose in life now is to continue Chris' work which includes many physics theories and inventions he had on the go and of course make his dream come true which was to go to the moon. I know I can still make Chris proud of me and hope that he really is watching over me. I was proud of him for 13 happy years.

Although Chris was not really a music man his favourites were Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones, having said that he always put up with my head banging tunes and we did used to dance in the kitchen to "Getting Jiggy With It" - by Will Smith. Bless him he had no rhythm but as he got older he really didn't care!

Chris and I were married on 26th May 2001 in Monda Castle, which also became home in 2007 as we decided that town life was no longer for us so we moved into the country so we could seek a quiet life for a change! We lived with 3 adorable cats and 5 chickens, we both worked from home running a programming and marketing business so we spent every waking hour together and now he is sadly not by my side I am so glad we had all those years living in each other's pockets. Children was not on the cards for us as I suffer from Scoliosis and the Dr advised me that bearing our own children could seriously affect my spine (which is already pinned!). So, in 2006 we started an adoption process with an aim to adopt a child from China. Unfortunately this dream did never happen as Inter Country Adoption is a long drawn out process and although our papers have been with China for 2 years this May, that phone call never came. Since Chris' death I have decided to cancel the adoption as I feel I could not go through the process without Chris to hold my hand. It will take a few years before I can piece my life back together so I feel I would be no use to a child at this current stage, but who knows, some years down the line I may chose to become a foster parent and help children who have suffered grief, but for now it is not to be.

In honour of Chris' memory some dear friends have written a song called Praise The Moon and all the proceeds of this song will go towards Chris' moon flight which I hope to be in early 2012. Thank you René Junge Pedersen for writing this song and for using his moon image as the album cover. Use the orange button below to have a listen to the mix. This will be available for download from iTunes and I will update here when we have more details on that.

The aim now is to have Chris released via the Spanish courts, as they have said he has to stay in Spain until 2016, however, I am not happy with this decision so I am fighting the courts from Monday 9th May, 2011. I would like to cremate Chris and take him back to the UK with me and then plan his moon flight.

Goodbye for now my darling, you were and always will be the best human being to enter my life and I love and miss you very much. Sleep well until the day we meet again. Simone Icough

Luna Service Celestis

Celestis announcs our agreement with Odyssey Moon Limited and Astrobotic Technology, Inc. to launch payloads containing human cremated remains to the suface of the Moon as early as 2012/2013. Astrobotic Technology has signed a contract with SpaceX for a lunar mission that could launch as soon as December 2013. This information is courtesy of Celestis Inc.

The Luna Service reaches out to Earth’s nearest neighbor for a uniquely compelling location to remember a special life.

This service was inaugurated in 1999 when, at the request of NASA, Celestis assisted the colleagues and loved ones of Dr. Eugene Shoemaker to place a portion of his cremated remains aboard the NASA Lunar Prospector mission.

Costs of The Luna Flight Module - $29,990

Launches seven grams of cremated remains, first priority, to lunar orbit and/or the lunar surface;
Invitation to launch and memorial services: pre-launch briefings, personal meeting and dinner with an astronaut, launch tour (when available)
A custom, individualized, professionally produced DVD of the launch and memorial activities;
Complimentary scattering of balance of remaining cremated remains at sea near the launch site;
Inscription of the participant’s name and message on the flight module;
Personalized Online Memorial, including a biography (one page — 500 words, one photo, five video and five audio clips, online Guest Book messages) placed on the Celestis Web site (additional photos are available);
Framed post-launch certificate;
Memorial plaque, with replica of the flight module, suitable for display in home or office;
Performance assurance — in the event the mission is not successful, you will have the option for a priority re-flight, at no additional cost, on the next scheduled Space Services Inc. Lunar Service launch.

Courtesy of Celestis Inc

This website is not directly affiliated with nor is it an official Celestis website

Donations

If you would like to donate to Chris' moon flight please use the button below and make any kind of contribution of your choosing, any amount will help. Once his ashes are on the moon I will be sending a message to everyone and uploading the DVD for people to view. Thanks for your generosity