People will be able to have their ashes scattered in space from next month when a British company launches the first extra-terrestrial funeral service.

The new ritual, offered by Ascension Flights, allows families to send their loved ones’ remains to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere, where they will be released into the high-altitude winds of the stratosphere.

The company, which was set up by two graduates from the University of Sheffield, has already conducted test flights using weather balloons which soar 21 miles into the air.

Experiments using non-human ash showed that that particles released from canisters can make their way into the upper atmosphere, and even escape Earth’s gravitational pull, to float in the vacuum of space.