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18
A Brief History of
Early Non-Terrestrial
Memorialization
by: Oscar Rios
Chapter One –
Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust to Dust.
In the early days of space colonization Luna, or
Earth’s moon, was the site of the first non-terrestrial
burial. This occurred on October 21st, 2083, forty
two year before Lunar independence for Terra. In
those days Luna was little more than a construction
site for early colonial transports (as the Montgomery
-Quade shipbuilding facility wouldn’t be finished
until 2096). Other than that Luna was mostly used
as a location for mining and as a fueling station for
colonial transports, loading up on Luna ice to power
the vessel’s early Ion propulsion systems. In this
period Luna was administered by a variety of Terran
governments and a handful of small independent
companies, all working to support the Martian
colonization efforts.
It’s a commonly held belief that Ho-Wu Tseng was the
first person to die on Luna, but this is not the case. Mr.
Tseng was actually the ninth person to die on Earth’s
moon; he was only the first person whose body was not
returned to Earth. A review of the historical archives
of Luna clearly shows that the EU had three deaths
before then, the United States two, and the Sino-
Chinese Pact suffered the remaining three deaths on
Luna before the death of Mr. Tseng. These deaths
had all been a combination of construction accidents,
fatalities due to undetected medical conditions and in
one case an apparent suicide. The bodies of these
seven men and one woman were all returned to Earth
by their respective governments. However Ho-Wu
Tseng was a construction foreman for the Rosenthal
The Southern Funeral Director w Alliance NFDA & CANA Pre Convention 2011
Consortium, an independent sub-contractor hired by
the Sino-Chinese Pact to mine Lunar ice a operate a
refinery to process it into Ion Fuel.
In those days competition was fierce, between the
National Earth government programs and the subcontractors
they employed. In many cases corners
were cut and safety was sacrificed in the name of
efficiently and profits. It was just these conditions
that would spark the Lunar Independence Movement
and lead to major industrial reforms, but that wouldn’t
occur until the early 2100’s. Ho-Wu Tseng died in an
industrial accident at RC-RF2, a lunar ice refinery. A
faulty coupling valve gave way, filling the chamber
he was working in with super heated steam. Mr. Wu
is credited with sealing off the chamber and closing
the valve feeding pressurized steam into the ruptured
coupling. His actions undoubtedly saved the lives of
the other seventeen workers in the refinery. However
he was burned over 60% of this body and died two
days later, on October 12th, 2083.
His superior working at the refinery requested that the
body be transported to back Earth for final disposition.
However, the request was passed through channels for
seven days, as no at the Rosenthal Consortium wished
to authorize the transport. The reason was cost.
Supply ships from Earth were infrequent and every
gram of weight was factored in. This was true both
transports coming to and returning from Luna. It was
estimated that transporting Ho-Wu Tseng’s remains
back to Earth for cremation (as was his family’s
wishes) would cost the Rosenthal Consortium 53
Million Credits.