If you don't fancy interring your loved one in a cemetery or scattering their ashes at the beach, why not have them shot into space? 

Cromer Crematorium has partnered with the firm Aura Flights to offer ‘memorial launches’ - in which someone’s ashes are packed underneath a space-capable biodegradable balloon filled with renewable hydrogen gas.

The ashes are released 100,000 feet above the Earth to spend the next three-to-six months orbiting the globe until they re-enter the atmosphere.

Eastern Daily Press: File photo of the Milky Way over Happisburgh Lighthouse. Loved one's ashes can now be sent into space, to cascade slowly down to Earth. File photo of the Milky Way over Happisburgh Lighthouse. Loved one's ashes can now be sent into space, to cascade slowly down to Earth. (Image: Alex Lyons)

It is claimed the ashes will then 'seed the formation of clouds and fall back to Earth as raindrops and snowflakes all over the world'.

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Rodney Clark-Ward, manager of the crematorium, which is part of the Westerleigh Group, said: “We are always looking to expand the range of memorial options available to the bereaved in order to give them the widest possible choice and help them to create uniquely personal memorials for their loved ones.”

Eastern Daily Press: Cromer Crematorium site manager Rodney Clark-WardCromer Crematorium site manager Rodney Clark-Ward (Image: Westerleigh Group)

It costs £2,950 to have someone’s ashes scattered in space.

The ashes are packaged in a 'scatter vessel' from a site near Sheffield and once it reaches the right altitude, holes are opened up so the remains cascade out slowly to be taken by the stratospheric winds. 

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Eastern Daily Press: Ashes being scattered into space from a 'scatter vessel'Ashes being scattered into space from a 'scatter vessel' (Image: Aura Flights)

The vessel returns to Earth via a self-activating parachute system. 

Cameras film the whole procedure and afterwards, the footage is edited into a memorial video including music, photos and messages from friends and family. 

Eastern Daily Press: Samantha Richardson, general manager of Aura Flights, and Matthew Brook from the Westerleigh GroupSamantha Richardson, general manager of Aura Flights, and Matthew Brook from the Westerleigh Group (Image: Westerleigh Group)

And the service is not just for human loved ones - the firm also launches the ashes of family pets into space. 

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There is also a ‘voyager package’ in which a portion of someone's ashes are taken on an orbital flight and then returned to their loved ones in a special urn, which costs £495.