What You're Likely Missing at Neil Armstrong's Secret Ceremonial Funeral

NASA has confirmed that Neil Armstrong, who walked on the Moon's Sea of Tranquility, will be buried at sea. Details haven't been released to the public, and might not be in keeping with the family's wishes for privacy. We don't know whether it will be a casket burial or a scattering of ashes, which ship will perform the ceremony, where, or when it will take place. But we do know that the burial will follow the traditional Navy procedures, which means it will be a small and private affair – very appropriate for the man who kept an extremely private profile.

Sea burials are a particularly long-standing tradition that've been around as long as people have been going out to and dying at sea. Ancient sea burials usually saw the deceased shrouded in a weighted sail cloth and committed to the sea accompanied by the appropriate religious ceremony. In the Second World War, mass sea burials were commonplace as sailors living on ships for weeks at a time couldn't return home to deliver their dead after an attack.

Modern sea burials are available to those who didn't die at sea; active duty, retired, or dishonorably discharged military personnel, U.S. civilian marine personnel of Military Sealift Command, or any other U.S. citizen deemed eligible by the Chief of Naval Operations (usually for noteworthy service or contributions to the US government). As a former Naval aviator and a man who's contributed to activities of the country's government, it's a fitting send off for Armstrong.

But Navy burials are done on active duty ships, which means no family are able to attend. Instead, the ship's commanding officer presides over the ceremony and tells the family afterwards when the burial was done, where (by longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates), and includes photographs and video of the ceremony as well as the commemorative flag.

Navy burials, like so many military ceremonies, are steeped in intricate traditions. Personnel participating in or attending the service must wear the Uniform of the Day, a certain dress that depends on rank and season. If there's a religious element, a chaplain performs prayers; otherwise military personnel perform all ceremonial aspects.

Officers prepare the deceased for burial. A flag is draped over the casket with the union resting at the head over the left shoulder; when the flag is displayed, the cap and sword of the deceased are not. Casket bearers, six or eight depending on how heavy it is, are organized by height on either side. They carry the casket, feet first, to a pre-cleared area on the ship's deck and place it on a designated table with the feet hanging overboard at a right angle to the side of the ship. This, fittingly in Armstrong's case, is sometimes referred to as the launch point.

A bugle typically signals that the casket is in place. The bearers salute as the funeral procession passes and assembles in formation around the launch point. They're called to attention before the committal is read. Then, the casket bearers tilt the table while maintaining a firm grasp on the flag so the casket slides out from under it and falls overboard, feet first, into the sea. The command "Firing party, Order Arms, Parade Rest" signals everyone to bow their heads as a prayer is read. Then comes the commands, "Firing party, Attention. Fire three volleys." Three shots are fired. Then, "Taps" is played.

The casket bearers fold the flag twice along its long axis then into a triangle such that only the blue starfield shows. It's presented by the chief master-at-arms to the commanding officer who is then the first to leave the ceremony; this is the flag he'll send to the family. The order to assume parade rest follows, the firing party and the casket bearers are brought to attention and marched away. Then the ceremony is over.

Cremated remains go through the same ceremony, though only one sailor carries the urn, which is opened and the ashes are scattered into the sea. There's also the option to scatter the ashes of a deceased from an airplane.

And for civilians looking for the same ceremonial send off, there are civilian sea burial companies out there. Like Nature's Passage, that points out sea burials are both more environmentally friendly and up to 70 percent less expensive than traditional burials. The company uses only uses weighted biodegradable containers and burial shrouds made of natural fibers that sink to at least 600 feet. Here, the body proceeds quickly, as they say, "upon its final 'passage' as nature intended."

Leaving from any seaport in New York City or the metropolitan tristate area, the company offers a range of funeral types: with or without family on board, military burials, traditional non-military burials, and even ancient mariner internment in a sail cloth. The family can even go on annual voyages to the launch site and lay flowers.

Civilian sea burials might not have the cache of Armstrong's, but there's only one Neil Armstrong. And for the first man on the Moon, a full military ceremony, if that's what will happen, is an incredibly dignified way to go and will undoubtedly be a huge honour for the men and women on the launch ship.