A grieving father has shared how we spread his son’s ashes in outer space – just like Coronation Street’s Paul Foreman.
Trevor and Jean Barker were devastated to lose their son, Damion, to cancer at the age of 50, but opted for an unusual memorial method to commemorate him – launching his ashes 100,000 feet into space.
The service was echoed by beloved character Paul’s out-of-this-world send-off on last night’s episode (6 November).
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While the storyline was more reminiscent of a sci-fi movie plot, for Corrie fan Trevor, it took him right back to Damion’s service.
“Watching the scattering of his ashes into space was beautiful and very emotional,” Trevor, 74, told Need To Know.
“Because we can watch [the footage] anytime we want, it is helping with our grief.
“It is what Damion would have wanted.
“He wanted to be one of the first people to travel to Mars.
“I watched the storyline start to unfold on Coronation Street and we thought of Damion, and hoped the actual event would be shown.
“Many viewers will be gobsmacked and will have never heard of it before.”
The family, from Accrington, Lancashire, lost Damion in December after a five-month battle with stage four cancer.
They originally planned to scatter his ashes in the River Ribble, but came across Aura Flights – the same company featured in Coronation Street – and decided to go for a less orthodox service.
Meanwhile, the soap favourite, Paul, had his own contemporary service in the recent episode, where his loved ones gathered in the Rovers Return to watch a screening of his ashes being spread.
While things in Weatherfield took a predictably dramatic turn – with Paul’s husband, Billy, drunkenly pulling the plug on the laptop and spoiling the viewing – in real life, more and more people have been turning to the unusual service to pay tribute to departed friends and family members.
Aura Flights is the company behind the method, sending ashes into space in a ‘unique intelligence scatter vessel’ designed to contain them securely throughout the ascent, before releasing them in a controlled cascade once the craft has reached an altitude of 100,000 feet.
The scatter vessel is carried into space by a massive stratospheric balloon filled with hydrogen gas.
The balloon rises at a steady rate of around five metres per second, or 18 miles per hour.
As it rises, the changing pressure causes the balloon to expand, ultimately growing over 20 metres in diameter.
The vessel is also equipped with two camera systems, which film the craft’s ascent into space and the moment that the ashes are released.
To conduct Paul’s final journey, the team used an environmentally friendly synthetic replica of cremated remains, which were launched using a biodegradable latex balloon and renewable hydrogen gas from a launch site in Sheffield.
Lee Rayner, head of production for Coronation Street said: “When our researcher pitched the idea of scattering Paul’s ashes in space, we knew immediately that a celestial celebration was the most fitting way to end his incredible story.
“Donna Henshaw, Coronation Street’s senior production manager, and researcher Hannah Lee worked closely with Aura Flights to make this pitch a reality.
“Then together with the writing team, we brought our fictional casting ceremony to life in the most realistic, beautiful and unforgettable way possible – one that will doubtless go down in ‘Corrie’ history.”
Alex Keen, head of communications at Aura Flights, added: “We’ve conducted over 250 flights for our ‘passengers’, exceptional everyday people with lives just as storied as the characters on Corrie.”
As well as the Barker’s, other families have opted to use Aura Flights for their own unique send-off.
Susan Viggars, from London, spread the ashes of her parents, Beryl and Stanley, last December, after finding a note from her mum expressing the quirky wish.
Meanwhile, Sarah and Ray Lakeman shared earlier this year how they celebrated the loss of their sons, Jacques and Torin, who both died from an ecstasy overdose in 2014.
The Isle of Man-based family honoured the brothers by releasing their ashes into space.
And it’s not just people who are making their final passage above Earth, with Elizabeth Garcia requesting to take her cat, Chloe, with her to have their ashes scattered simultaneously following her passing last year.
