Gene Roddenberry - Death and Legacy

Death and Legacy

Roddenberry died from cardiopulmonary arrest, on October 24, 1991. The first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation to air after his death, "Unification", featured a dedication to Roddenberry. In 1992, a portion of Roddenberry's ashes flew and returned to earth on the Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-52. On April 21, 1997, a Celestis spacecraft — carrying portions of the cremated remains of Roddenberry, of Timothy Leary and of 22 other individuals — was launched into Earth orbit aboard a Pegasus XL rocket from near the Canary Islands. On May 20, 2002, the spacecraft's orbit deteriorated and it disintegrated in the atmosphere. Another flight to launch more of his ashes into deep space along with those of Majel (Barrett) Roddenberry, his widow who died in 2008, is planned for launch in 2014.

After his death, Roddenberry's estate permitted the filming of Earth: Final Conflict and Andromeda, two television series which were based on his unused stories. A third story idea was adapted in 1995 as the comic book Gene Roddenberry's Lost Universe (later titled Gene Roddenberry's Xander in Lost Universe). Gene Roddenberry's Starship, was a computer-animated series that was proposed by Majel Barrett and John Semper but was not produced.

Roddenberry and his wife Majel were honored by the Space Foundation in 2002 with the Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award, in recognition of their contributions to awareness of and enthusiasm for space exploration.

Roddenberry was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2010.