Hi, my name is Layla Nicholson and I'm the daughter of John Nicholson - whose story recently went viral on TikTok & Instagram

Since John was a little boy, he'd always dreamt of being an astronaut

His love of space continued throughout his adult life where he built up a relationship with NASA & would bring people out to experience launches at Cape Canaveral

He wanted to share the joy of all things space with others!

Dad even invented a space oven & spoke at the international space conference back in the late 90s

Sadly, dad had a huge breakdown and was in and out of the mental health system for the next 30 years

But his love of space never died.

Dad finally got the most mentally stable he'd ever been in summer 2024

But, cruelly, he was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of 2025 and sadly passed away in September

Just days after he died, my sister spotted that NASA were accepting submissions for peoples names to be loaded on a SD card to go on board the Artemis Il mission

So that means on April 1st, John Nicholson finally managed to get to space - even if it was just his name

But, l'm a big believer in keeping dreams alive even if the person is dead...

Dad's ashes are still with us on Earth, but I want to get them to space!

The plan has always been to send dad's ashes to space next year & make it into a big fundraising event for charity - I want dad to have a positive legacy!

It costs around £4,000 to send ashes to space so going to start the fundraiser there

After posting dad's story on social media, lots of people have been moved and have asked me to set this up!

I'm not sure what exact charity/charities l'd like to fundraise for but it will be something to do with either mental health, cancer and/or social mobility - to help young people from low socioeconomic backgrounds to follow their dreams!

Despite everything, dad was an inherently positive person who cared for all - it's something that it's important to me too

I was the carer for my dad for 8 years and it's been really hard, even harder losing dad

Life can be cruel, but that doesn't mean we have to be

Thank you!! Layla :)