Campaign launched to make Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley an astronaut
A campaign has been launched to posthumously make Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley an honorary astronaut.
Frehley, who died last month aged 74 in Morristown, New Jersey, famously had the persona of Ace Space during his time with the legendary rock group.
Katherine Sugg has launched the petition, and, at the time of writing, it has notched up close to 400 signatures.
Sugg said of the campaign: “Paul Daniel ‘Ace’ Frehley, at the tender age of 21, was brave enough to take one small orange step and one small red step, and make the giant leap into the global phenomenon that we all now know as Kiss. And while most of his dreams ended up coming true, at least one did not.”
She continued, “When he suddenly passed away from a brain bleed following a head injury at 74, he was still only merely playing the character of a Space Cadet. He never got to be one for real.”
Sugg then called upon NASA to make “his one last remaining unfulfilled wish” a reality, asking, “Posthumously make Ace Frehley an honorary astronaut with the rank of ‘Captain’, because a celestial being of his calibre doesn’t deserve anything less of a send-off than this. His last countdown should be his absolute best!”
Even outside of his time as Ace Space in Kiss, Frehley continued to flirt with themes of space in his solo career as Frehley’s Comet, with his album titles including Spaceman and Space Invader.
On October 22nd, Frehley had his memorial service in the Bronx, New York, which was attended by his former bandmates in Kiss. His death remains under investigation by a New Jersey medical examiner.
While no autopsy was carried out on Frehley, the late guitarist will receive a toxicology screening along with an external body examination, which will determine his cause of death. Weeks before his death, Frehley had previously cancelled all shows for 2025 after suffering a fall at his recording studio in September.
Following his death, Kiss emotionally said in a joint statement, “We are devastated by the passing of Ace Frehley. He was an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its history. He is and will always be a part of KISS’s legacy. Our thoughts are with Jeanette, Monique and all those who loved him, including our fans around the world.”
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