What do you think the one thing De would say to fans today if he could? I think he would say thank you for continuing to hold him in such high regard even after so many years. When asked years ago if he would ever travel in space if given the chance, he said, “In a heartbeat.” So, he’s going!ĭo you plan to attend the launch? Yes, I have been invited by Celestis to attend the three-day event and to spend about three minutes talking about De at the memorial service the day before the flight leaves earth. How do you think Kelley would have felt about this? I think De would love it. I’m delighted that De will be able to be included in this deep space mission. So they had me send half of the lock to their lab in Canada, and it was processed and prepared for the flight. They considered it the miracle they never expected. They were very excited to be able to include De on the upcoming flight. He said he believed so and contacted Celestis, who confirmed that. I happened to have Celestis’s Ambassador Marc B Lee on my EVER NEW podcast and after the show I told him about the lock of hair and asked if it could be used. And when I heard about the Celestis Enterprise flight, I thought, “If they can use a lock of De’s hair to add him to the mission, I want them to do it, because no Enterprise memorial flight would ever be complete without him.” And thank serendipity for that, too. I had been his caregiver for months by then and had washed and combed his hair, so getting that lock was significant to me. What brought you to that decision?Ĭarolyn (Kelley’s wife) asked me to collect two locks of hair from De after he passed, one for her and one for me. You donated a lock of Kelley’s hair from which DNA will be extracted. I had the opportunity to talk to Smith about the decision to include Kelley and his enduring legacy.

Leonard “Bones” McCoy from Star Trek: The Original Series, DeForest Kelley passed away in 1999, but thanks to his friend and personal assistant and caregiver, Kris Smith, his DNA will travel to space on Celestis’ Enterprise Memorial Space Flight later on this year. DeForest Kelley will join several other Star Trek alumni for a memorial space flight later this year.Ī man who will forever be known as Dr.

DeForest Kelley by Kristine M. Smith