If all goes well, the remains of James Doohan -- who became a cultural icon by playing chief engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott of the starship Enterprise on "Star Trek" -- will be rocketed into space next month.

The Canadian-born actor who inspired the phrase "Beam me up, Scotty," even though it was never actually said on the television show, died two years ago at the age of 85.

Space Services Inc., the same Houston-based commercial company that sent the remains of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry into space in 1997, said some of Doohan's remains were packed into a rocket at Las Cruces, N.M., on Friday, in preparation for the flight scheduled for April 28.

The company had originally planned to send Doohan's remains into space two years ago, but the flight was delayed by tests. Then, last year, it was again delayed after a similar spacecraft developed a fuel leak and crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

Doohan's ashes will be sent up along with the remains of some 200 other people, according to Space Services spokeswoman Susan Schonfeld. The remains of astronaut Gordon Cooper, who first went into space in 1963, also will be on that flight. Cooper died in 2004 at age 77.

After a short flight the rocket will return to Earth with the capsules holding the remains.

Space Services charges $495 to send a sample of a person's ashes into suborbital space. Capsules containing the ashes are then retrieved, mounted on plaques and returned to relatives.