A U.S. company that launches cremated human remains into orbit said it plans to offer the service in China, playing on growing public interest in space after two manned flights.

"With the growth and success of the Chinese space program, people here will be more space-aware and will find space to be an appropriate venue for memorial services," Charles Chafer, chief executive officer of Houston, Texas-based Space Services Inc., said Tuesday.

Chafer said his company is discussing an arrangement with Beijing Great Wall Chinese Shrine, a funeral home and columbarium in the Chinese capital.

In 2003, China became the third country to send a human into orbit on its own, after the U.S. and Russia. Beijing followed that mission up with a second manned space flight last October.

Chafer said he hoped to arrange a distributorship with the Beijing funeral home but couldn't say when that might happen.

Sun Yi, the vice general manager of Great Wall Shrine, said two people in Beijing have expressed interest in the service but declined to give details.

Space Services ships either 1 or 7 grams (0.04 or 0.28 ounces) of a person's cremated remains - less than 1 percent of the remains of the average cremation.

They travel in lipstick-size containers aboard commercial rockets carrying other cargo.

Prices have yet to be set for Chinese customers but Chafer said they should be comparable to what is charged in the United States.

American customers pay US$995 (euro787) for one gram and US$5,300 (euro4,195) for a 7-gram package of remains.

The trip can last anywhere from a few minutes to centuries, depending on what orbit the rocket is put into. One orbit is considered a successful flight. Family and friends can observe a rocket's location through an online service until the vessel burns up in the atmosphere.

Space Services, which was formed in 1994 under the name Celestis, plans to have its next launch in October, 2006.