Ashes of Topeka Star Trek fan to become part of solar system
TOPEKA (KSNT) - A Topeka man's remains are destined for the stars after his life was tragically cut short in a murder-suicide in 2022. His sister, Audrey White, discovered a service to send his ashes into space on the upcoming Deep Space Voyager mission.
On March 21, 2022, dispatchers from Jackson County received a call from a Kansas woman who said her husband, John A. Zempel, was dead. When deputies arrived they saw a woman inside with a gun before hearing a gunshot. The incident was deemed an apparent murder-suicide, according to the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.
Zempel was an avid lover of anything space related. White said some of her earliest memories of Zempel were watching Star Trek together.
"About a week before he was killed he had called me, he had sent me some emails, he was like, 'hey did you get this?'" White said. "I said what are you talking about? He said 'we're going to the moon'... He had put our names on a thumb drive on the Artemis rocket. He was so proud of himself. Like, 'hey we're going to the Moon sis'."
"He was in college, I was probably like three or four [years old]," White said. "And we would watch Star Trek, we would make the Star Trek Enterprise on my LiteBrite, those are the memories I have of my brother."
After Zempel's death, White heard about a service to send a loved one's ashes into space.
"Space travel, NASA and anything to do with space, he loved it," White said. "It was really something that meant so much to him. So when I found out it was like, I have to do this."
Zempel was a scientist who earned a Ph.D. in Toxicology and Pharmacology at the University of Kansas. He also taught high school at Saint Benedict at Auburndale High School in Tennessee where he was known as "Dr. Z" by his students. Before his death, Zempel had begun taking photos of the night sky and the Milky Way, according to memorial spaceflight company Celestis, Inc.
White said Zempel's favorite part of his career was teaching high school science.
"He loved teaching, that's just who he was,' White said. "Space was always something he was interested in. When I found out about Celestis and especially the Enterprise flight it was perfect."
Zempel's ashes will be alongside Star Trek cast members who've passed away including Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan, DeForest Kelly and others.
"So to me, it's one, I one-upped him," White said. "Because, okay, we went to the moon, now I'm sending you to space with Star Trek. But it's also a thing that, I can't think of a better way to honor him."
The space flight will position a lunar lander on course to rendezvous with the Moon and then continue onto a path to orbit the sun. Once the rocket's upper stage achieves orbit, the flight will be renamed Enterprise Station where it will journey endlessly through space, according to Celestis, Inc.
As long as everything goes off without a hitch, the rocket launch is scheduled for Jan. 8 in Cape Canaveral, FL. White said Zempel's ashes were sent to Celestis, Inc. about two weeks after his death. She said the launch had been delayed several times with the original planned takeoff in the fall of 2022.
According to White, the service was $12-13,000. She said it was an expense, but it was the final thing she could do for her big brother.
"In my opinion, worth every penny," White said.
"The thing is, he's going to be traveling, his ashes will be in space, for, forever," White said. "I'll be able to look up and know he's there."
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