(CNN) -- In the end, it was Scotty who got beamed up. 

The ashes of late actor James Doohan, who played chief engineer Montgomery Scott in the original "Star Trek" television series and a series of subsequent films, were on the SpaceX rocket that launched a private spacecraft into orbit this week. 

Doohan's character was referenced in the "Beam me up, Scotty" catchphrase associated with "Star Trek." 

In various versions of the command, Capt. James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner, would ask his Scottish-descended colleague to activate a matter teleportation device that would transport Kirk or others to the starship Enterprise. 

While it is unclear if the exact phrase "Beam me up, Scotty" ever was uttered in a "Star Trek" episode, it became a popular bumper sticker and Doohan chose it for the title of his autobiography published in 1996. He died in 2005. 

Celestis, a company that provides memorial spaceflights, confirmed that some of Doohan's cremated remains were among 320 sets on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Tuesday. 

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In addition, a portion of the cremated remains of Mercury 7 astronaut Gordon Cooper also were on board, the company confirmed. 

The Falcon 9 rocket, which carried up the SpaceX Dragon craft for a possible rendezvous this week with the International Space Station, is expected to remain in orbit for months until burning up when it falls back into the Earth's atmosphere. 

"He would rather have flown when he was alive, of course," said Doohan's widow, Wende Doohan, who watched the SpaceX launch Tuesday with the couple's 12-year-old daugher, one of three children from a 31-year marriage. 
What did it bring into orbit?
The ashes of late actor James Doohan, who played chief engineer Montgomery Scott in the original "Star Trek" television series and a series of subsequent films, were on the SpaceX rocket that launched a private spacecraft into orbit this week. 