Funeral Funerals were ceremonial actions associated with the body of a dead humanoid . Funerals often differed across cultures and could play an important role in religious beliefs . Officer s in Starfleet often decided to have a traditional Earth " burial at sea " , changed for starship s to a burial in space . The deceased was put in a photon torpedo casing , with the flag of the Federation ( or , in some cases , the flag of Starfleet Command ) draped across it . A senior officer or someone close to the deceased usually said a eulogy , after which another officer blew a Boatswain ' s whistle as those gathered for the funeral stood at attention . The torpedo casket was then launched or beamed into open space . ( ; ; ; ) Civilians were known , according to their wishes , to receive a similar burial , except they were placed inside a different kind of container and beamed into space . ( ) In 2376 , the Starfleet practice of burial in space directly conflicted with the Kobali practice of salvaging corpses for reanimation as a means of procreation . The body of the late Ensign Lyndsay Ballard of the , who died and was buried in space in 2374 , was reanimated to become Jhet ' leya . ( ) In 2256 , at the funeral of Captain Philippa Georgiou , Saru gave a recorded speech about the late Starfleet officer . This speech was later seen by Michael Burnham , who described it as beautiful . ( ) In 2267 , after the shuttlecraft " " crash land ed on Taurus II and Lieutenant Latimer was murder ed by an anthropoid living there , Lieutenant Boma helped prepare a burial service for Latimer and hoped Spock , who was in command of the " Galileo " s stranded crew , would say a few words in order to give Latimer " a decent burial . " Due to extreme time constraints , however , Spock declined , much to Boma ' s frustration . Spock and another of the stranded crew , Doctor Leonard McCoy , debated which of they themselves should preside over the ceremony , Spock believing that McCoy should because he possibly knew " the correct words for such an occasion . " After Lieutenant Gaetano was also killed by an anthropoid , Boma insisted that he be given a burial , but since the anthropoids were in the area , Spock was anxious to allow that . He eventually relented , though , granting Gaetano ' s funeral as long as the anthropoids permitted it . ( ) The funeral for Lieutenant Tasha Yar was performed on a holodeck projecting a pastoral scene and a prerecorded postmortem address by Yar . ( ) Data studied various aspects of ceremonial funeral actions while researching the proper way to say goodbye to Ro Laren and Geordi La Forge , while it was believed that they had been killed in a transporter accident . In Data ' s research , he revealed that " " in almost all societies , it is traditional to say a ritual farewell to those you call friends . " " ( ) In 2369 , a private Ferengi funeral was held at Quark ' s after the death of Zek . ( ) Gul Dukat told Constable Odo that he attended the funeral for Gul Darhe ' el , held on Cardassia . Darhe ' el was buried under one of the largest military monument s . ( ) The Vhnori employed thanatologist s to guide their dying to the Next Emanation . Doctor Neria was one such thanatologist , chief thanatologist of his facility . ( ) A wake was an old Irish tradition that involved people staying with a person ' s body until the funeral . ( ) In 2373 , Kira Nerys buried Tekeny Ghemor next to her father on Bajor . Gul Dukat had wanted to take him back to Cardassia , but Benjamin Sisko informed him , " " Legate Ghemor ' s funeral arrangements have already been taken care of . " " ( )