NAVAJO NATION (KRQE) – Leaders of the Navajo Nation are speaking out about an upcoming commercial mission to the moon.
United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur rocket is scheduled to lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, sending a lander built by the Pittsburgh company to the lunar surface.
The Navajo chief said the lander's payload would contain cremated human remains. The indigenous people consider the moon sacred, and placing human remains there is considered a “profound desecration of this celestial body.”
Navajo Chief Poe Nygren met with the White House, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and NASA to discuss the mission. He said the launch would continue as planned with the remains in the payload.
KRQE reached out to NASA representatives for comment but did not receive a response.
President Nygren said he was told that NASA does not control what private companies do, but that the nation will be consulted in the future.
