It was great hear about Aura Flights’ work behind the scenes to help the Coronation Street team to send character Paul’s ashes into space.
Millions of Coronation Street viewers watched last week as in a final farewell to favourite character Paul Foreman, his ashes were placed into a sleek, sci-fi vessel, launched into space and scattered dramatically above Earth.
But as we know, having worked with Aura Flights, space scatterings aren’t just television magic or space fiction, and in July this year the Sheffield-based company filmed this extraordinary television moment.
Alex Keen, the Head of Communications at Aura Flights, said “For many people, the idea of scattering ashes in space sounds like fiction at first, but it’s not just for TV characters!” He notes, “We’ve conducted over 250 flights for our ‘passengers’, exceptional everyday people with lives just as storied as the characters on Corrie.”
For Paul’s final journey, Aura Flights used an environmentally friendly synthetic replica of cremated remains, more commonly used by the company for testing purposes. After the substitute ashes were placed in the scattering vessel, it was launched using a biodegradable latex balloon and renewable hydrogen gas from one of Aura Flights’ launch sites in Sheffield. High quality cameras onboard the craft captured Paul’s final journey for the show.
Lee Rayner, Head of Production for Coronation Street said, “When our researcher pitched the idea of scattering Paul’s ashes in space, we knew immediately that a celestial celebration was the most fitting way to end his incredible story. “Donna Henshaw, Coronation Street’s Senior Production Manager and Hannah Lee, Researcher, worked closely with Aura Flights’ Chris Rose to make this pitch a reality. Then together with the writing team, we brought our fictional casting ceremony to life in the most realistic, beautiful and unforgettable way possible – one that will doubtless go down in ‘Corrie’ history.”
About Aura Flights
Run by the world leaders in Near Space flight Sent Into Space, Aura Flights have been conducting flights to the stratosphere and back to scatter ashes in space since 2017. To this day, Aura Flights have conducted over 250 successful space scatterings. If you would like more information, please go to Aura Flights www.ashesinspace.co.uk.
Photo: An Aura flights scatter vessel in space, featuring a picture of Paul.