The crematorium is an agent of the U.S. company Celestis, headquartered in Texas, which sends human ashes into space, the crematorium's administration told Interfax. The ashes of the father of one of its clients have already been sent into space from the Vandenberg launch site in California.

"The capsule containing the ashes will remain in orbit for forty years, after which it will burn up in the solid layers of the atmosphere," said a crematorium official.

In the meantime, Celestis announced that it has signed an agreement with SpaceQuest Ltd. to launch Dnepr spacecraft from the Baikonur cosmodrome, the Novosibirsk crematorium said on its website. The first Dnepr launch under the Kosmos I program is scheduled for May 2004.

"As far as I know, negotiations on the launch from Baikonur have not been completed yet," a source told Interfax .

The crematorium has also offered services to send ashes to the Moon and outer space. Such services cost from $995 to $12,500.