Māori company sending dearly departed loved ones into the heavens

Stardust Me has sent ashes of five dearly departed whānau into space. Photo / Supplied

There are many ways whānau can celebrate the life of a loved one who has died but a new and unique way has literally taken off.

Stardust Me is a New Zealand company that organises memorial flights of people’s ashes into space.

The company co-founder, Stu Tane Potter, (Ngāti Awa) celebrated his inaugural flight, which put the ashes of five New Zealanders into space.

“This has been five years in the making; this supports loved ones and is ready to provide a celebration of their life, a tribute to all the great things that person represented and to place them among the stars.”

Potter has over 20 years of senior management and business experience in Māori business, financial services, health, education, and research and development.

Stardust Me's Stu Potter. Photo / Supplied

His strengths are in mātauranga Māori, business development, strategy and leadership development, executive coaching, developing high performance teams, strategic human resource management, change management and innovation. Stu is also a published children’s book author of the Fish Story which incorporates te reo Māori.

He said Stardust Me is the first Māori-owned company that has launched into space.

“What we are trying to promote is there is a chance for innovations within the regions; it also shows that Māori can be a part of fantastic adventures.”

Potter said that Stardust Me sends 1g of the person’s ashes to the United States to Space-X, where it is attached to a satellite, and fired into space on one of the company’s Falcon-9 rockets, and will stay in orbit for up to 10 years.

“We can then connect to the satellite and watch that on our phone and see in real-time where it is placed above the world; so when it goes overhead in the night sky, people can watch the satellite go overhead.”

Whānau can access this service through more than 200 funeral directors across Aotearoa who are in partnership with Stardust Me.