Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: Monogram models/Celestis

The late Willy Ley, a visionary science writer, rocketry advocate, and one of the earliest public voices to express what a true Space Age may become is on an Earth-departure trajectory.

Next year, a symbolic portion of Willy Ley’s cremated remains will fly aboard Serenity Flight – an Earth-orbit memorial mission launching from Cape Canaveral.

Cremated remains

In early 2025, Ley’s cremated remains were unexpectedly discovered in the basement of a Manhattan apartment building.

Image credit: Leonard David Archives

“Serenity Flight will place a symbolic portion of Ley’s remains into Earth orbit alongside other participants who share a common passion for exploration, legacy, and meaning,” explains Charles Chafer, CEO and co-founder of Celestis Memorial Spaceflights.

“Like all Celestis orbital missions,” Chafer added, “the spacecraft will circle our planet for months to years before its natural reentry—creating a poetic, celestial farewell.”

Pioneers recording the future.
Image credit: Leonard David Archives

Seminal visionary

Willy Ley was born in Berlin in 1906. He was among the founding members of the Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VfR), the early amateur rocketry society whose ideas shaped the foundations of modern aerospace engineering.

After fleeing Nazi Germany in 1935, Ley became a U.S. citizen and one of America’s top science communicators. He died in June 1969, just weeks before Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon.

Ley penned several influential books, such as Rockets, Missiles, & Space Travel and other seminal works. His “Imagineering” views about space exploration appeared in such publications as Life and Time magazine.

To learn more regarding this Serenity Flight, go to:

Willy Ley’s Long-Awaited Journey to Orbit: Honoring a Space Pioneer on Celestis’ Serenity Flight in 2026