Former Connecticut teacher’s remains sent into deep space

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — A former Connecticut teacher is getting the experience of a post-lifetime.

“The launch actually illuminates the sky,” said Dawn Amore, Enrica Amore’s daughter.

The burst of light soaring into the atmosphere is a rocket that holds the DNA and remains of 264 people, including the Hamden resident.

“First you see it, you hear it, and then you feel it, and it’s this all-sensory experience, and then as it goes off into the sky, it’s like my mom’s really in heaven, like truly. It brought this sense of solace,” Dawn said.

Enrica Amore, 75, died from a heart attack in 2019.

Dawn said it was unexpected, and along with her cancer diagnosis and pandemic, funeral plans were challenging. Enrica was cremated, and years later, an opportunity to combine her classroom passion and the cosmos aligned.

Enrica taught social studies at Hamden Middle School as well as Lee and Wilbur Cross high schools in New Haven. Her favorite time period was American colonial history.

“She loved all the founding fathers and knew so much history about them. There wasn’t a question that she couldn’t answer,” Dawn said. “Finding out as I did my research that they are including the DNA of George Washington and John F. Kennedy, there couldn’t be a more perfect tribute for my mother.”

“It makes me feel good about what I do every day,” said Colby Youngblood, Celestis Memorial Spaceflights President.

A small portion of Enrica’s remains are now heading into deep space along with the DNA of several U.S. presidents she once taught about.

The memorial mission was made possible through the commercial space company Celestis. They said the flight is traveling 185 million miles into a heliocentric orbit that will orbit the sun forever.

“Will be the furthest repository of our civilization out in the universe,” Youngblood said. “Made history as the commercial space industry’s very first payload that was delivered into deep space.’

The former Connecticut social studies teacher is now forever a part of deep space history!

Dawn is able to watch her mother’s post-life journey through a real-time tracker of the capsule and, although far away, says she feels a new connection that’s out of this world.

“The connection I feel to her now when you look up at the heavens and she’s really out there. I’m imagining she’s able to see things that none of us have seen, and I think she would feel very blessed to be able to take a lifelong adventure,” Dawn said.

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