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star trek - What is Starfleet protocol for disposing of an unclaimed body?


In the ST:TNG episode "Heart of Glory", an Enterprise away team rescues three Klingons from a battle-damaged, derelict freighter. One of the Klingons soon dies from his injuries, prompting the two other Klingons and Worf to howl heaven-ward in the Klingon Death Ritual.


This exchange then happens:



Crusher: "Is there any special arrangement you'd like for the body?"


Klingon: "It is only an empty shell now. Please treat it as such."


Crusher nods in agreement and understanding




What would she do with the body?



Answer



For the record we do see a graveyard in TNG's Sub-Rosa, and in DS9's "The Ship" we see Sisko order a funeral detail. However in space burial in the ground is clearly not an option. ST burials in space seem to be based loosely on the Navy's tradition of burials at sea. As Richard mentioned, the space burials we see all involve a body being placed in a torpedo casing, draped with a flag, and launched into space. A few examples:



  • TOS movies: Spock's funeral (try not to cry) (HT: Richard)

  • TNG: Ira Graves' funeral (HT to Richard)

  • Voyager: Lyndsay Ballard died and was 'buried in space' as we find out after the fact.

  • Voyager: We see this happen at Janeway's funeral in Coda (even though it's not real of course).

  • DS9: We see Muniz's body in a torpedo casing, although it's not clear what will happen to it - it's possible it will be turned over to his family for burial elsewhere.



Now I have to respectfully disagree here with Richard. Given Crusher's Federation-bred respect for all beings there's no way she's just vaporize the body or even transport it into pure energy, even if the Klingons didn't care. Even if there was no funeral service, I feel like she would still have put the body in a casing and had it beamed into space to be buried there.


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