THE ashes of James Doohan, better known as Scotty in Star Trek, were blasted into space aboard a private rocket yesterday from a launchpad in the New Mexico desert.

Many fans turned out in full Star Trek regalia for a memorial service for the Canadian-born actor the day before the launch of the SpaceLoft XL rocket.

Doohan’s widow, Wende, said her husband was eager to reach the final frontier: “He would be ecstatic. He would be the one pressing the button. He totally was so into space.”

Doohan, who died aged 85, played the chief engineer Montgomery Scott on the Starship Enterprise and was gracious to the end to “trekkies” who besieged him for autographs and appearances.

Captain Kirk never quite said, “Beam me up, Scotty” — the closest he came to it was, “Scotty, beam me up” — but it became one of the most famous phrases in television.

A symbolic portion of his ashes was loaded into a silver capsule with those of the American Mercury 7 astronaut Gordon Cooper and 200 other people whose families paid $495 (£248) for the privilege.

On board the flight were messages in memory of Doohan and Cooper and a CD, Celestis: Space Ceremonial Music, recorded by the Russian band Cyclotimia.

William Steinsiek, 55, a former pastor dressed in a Star Trek costume, said that Scotty was irreplaceable. “In many ways, when we lost him, we lost the Enterprise. These funerals are a way to reach a dream — the dream to go into space and back again.”

Joe Lattrell, the president of a rocket company, Beyond Earth Enterprises, said: “Star Trek is compelling because it shows people of diverse origins working together and getting along. Today we need to make that happen.”

Scotty has had to wait for his rendezvous with the stars. His ashes were originally due to be sent into space after his death in 2005. Technical problems led to further delays until yesterday’s launch by Celestis memorial spaceflights at Spaceport America.

At present the site is little more than a remote patch of desert near Upham, New Mexico, but it is due to be developed by Virgin Galactic, bringing Richard Branson’s dream of space travel to people still very much alive.

The actor’s remains are boldly going where those of Gene Roddenberry, the originator of the series, went before.

He was blasted into space in 1997, six years after his death. As Scotty once said in Star Trek: “I’ve giv’n her all she’s got, Captain, an’ I canna give her no more.”

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