To be utterly bewildered regarding the mission to land human remains on the moon

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https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/human-remains-on-vulcans-private-lunar-lander-will-desecrate-the-moon-navajo-nation-says

I thought DH was winding me up earlier. He’s fascinated with space travel/moon landings etc and it’s one subject where I often just smile and nod.

Am morbidly fascinated now by the whole thing, not least because the whole thing has gone so wrong. Anybody else been following this and can share some insight into the whole thing?

YABU because the mission isn't to send human remains to the moon. The mission is to test private technology, to prove it can be done outside government bodies, and to carry out scientific experiments. A tiny amount of the payload, and so a tiny part of the cost, is to bring the DNA, etc.

Source?

At the risk of sounding like a 6 year old … But WHY? Am quite open to acknowledging any scientific/logical/innovative reasons.

I don't know the specifics behind all of them. Some people paid for it. And in cases like Arthur C Clarke and Gene Roddenberry, I can see why people like the idea of some little bit of these writers who expanded our thoughts on space and our place in it, moving off of our small world. It seems fitting. I wouldn't do it myself, but I can understand the thoughts behind it.

Because humans are outgrowing the planet, and climate change is a thing. If we want to survive as a species we have to look to other places to live. And there’s gonna be a fuckton of money to made moving those that can afford it off what’s left of the earth in the future.

I'm not sure why the Navajo Nation's opinion really matters. I mean, they can have an opinion, but it's irrelevant. Nobody legally "owns" the moon therefore anyone should be free to do what they like. That's why various countries have attempted to land stuff there. Russia, China, the US couldn't just land stuff in each others' territory without permission but the moon is fair game.

It's kind of like the Wild West, large swathes of land up for grabs for anyone who wants to go there. The only difference is legally anyone who sends stuff there can't claim the territory as their own.

So moving humans to space to fuck up another planet is something I’ve seen mooted as an idea before. The whole dumping human remains on the moon ( or not as in this case) still doesn’t make sense. Just because we CAN do something, does that mean we should.

Nobody legally "owns" the moon therefore anyone should be free to do what they like.

That doesn’t really follow though - that’s like saying nobody “owns” Antarctica so it’s fine for anyone to do what they like. Well no it’s not, there’s a principle of preserving what’s naturally there and a strict set of laws. I can understand missions to explore and understand the Moon and that there are things left behind and human technology sent to other places in space too. But I do think dumping your ashes on the moon for vanity reasons is unnecessary and I’m not sure why it’s allowed. If they’re totally inert and sterile maybe it’s ok but not a good precedent.

Yes, but dumping human remains in the moon wasn’t the main objective, that was just a minor side thing that probably raised a hefty chunk towards the costs.

You keep missing the point of what this mission was actually about. "Dumping human remains" was only a tiny, tiny part of it. You're missing the bigger picture because you're focused on one insignificant detail. I explained earlier it's about science and exploration and expanding humanities range.

Probably just tiny amounts of the ashes of each of the individuals (not the whole pot full). I also like the idea that part of Arthur C Clarke and co finally get to go into space. Dumping presidential DNA into space, might be fitting in a twisted way depending how you interpret it.

I don't really get why you'd send remains/DNA.

But I also don't think anyone can claim the moon is their sacred space, and that they should be consulted before anyone does anything.
There's a more general discussion to be had around who decides what is sent to the moon, what happens there etc etc.