Kevin's Watch

Today, William Shatner of Star Trek got launched into space along with three other crew members, and stayed above the Earth's atmosphere for ten minutes. He is now, at age 90, the oldest human being ever to go in space. I thought this was pretty cool, and the news took me by surprise.

Any thoughts about this from other Watchers?

+JMJ+


(AUDIO RESTORED) William Shatner "Sings" 'Rocket Man' 1978 [YouTube: 5 min]


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Space Oddity [YouTube: 5 min]

As someone who grew up with "stars in his eyes" (between the '60s space program, Star Trek...and Robert Heinlein) and went on to spend 13 years working at NASA facilities, I kinda follow this stuff.

Prior to this year, the oldest person to fly to space was John Glenn at age 77, who earlier was the first American to orbit Earth during the Mercury program. When he returned to space decades later on the Shuttle, it was a pretty big deal.

Shatner flew today on New Shepard, which previously broke Glenn's mark for oldest-in-space when 82-year-old Wally Funk flew with Jeff Bezos and two others in July.

Glenn, of course, was previously an astronaut, served over two decades in the Senate, and passed the standard NASA astronaut physical to return to space. Funk was a NASA astronaut candidate, but was not selected for flight until Bezos invited her on the first New Shepard launch.

Shatner had no prior astronaut training or experience, despite his iconic portrayal of Captain James Tiberius Kirk. At 90, he apparently handled the up-to-5G flight stresses just fine.

Pretty impressive!

It's rather extraordinary, imo. He actually got to go to space.

+JMJ+


Spaceflight Now @SpaceflightNow | Twitter ​[Video: 2 min]

At no time has William Shatner been accused of being prolix.

Even we Watchers, devotees of a verbose literary style, might lack for words after that experience. Ought we expect profundity from Shatner after his suborbital sojourn?

No. We. Knew. What. We. Would. Get...Nu?

I don't want to hear him talk.

I think it's pretty cool.
I don't know if he's ever been an advocate for space exploration or not but his character and Star Trek has been inspirational for so many people I think it's fitting.

Plus, think how awesome it is that old people (like me) can now survive a trip into space!

Wait, William Shatner is 90?!?

--A

I was at an appointment to give blood while the launch was ongoing and was watching the second half of the flight with a needle in my arm. Interestingly, the twenty something women nurses there only had a vague idea of who William Shatner was.

Bill did give Bezos his money's worth with his commentary afterwards. The sound wasn't high enough for me to hear what he was saying but whatever he was saying, it seemed it seemed lasted as long as the flight.

I think it's awesome that Shatner was gifted with such a trip.

It's right for all the reasons why Prince William is wrong. A space industry will save the Earth. (Or it could, if done with a conscious.) And right now, the industry needs PR to expand. People need to believe in it.

And if enough people believe in it, and pay attention to it, and care what happens to it, then it may not become yet another form of exploitation and destruction. (Looking at you, Facebook.)

I've seen a lot of funny memes regarding William Shatner's space flight. But I watched the crew disembark, and was very taken with Shatner's philosophical comments to Jeff Bezos when he first left the capsule.

From NBCNews:

[Shatner] said that going from the blue sky to the utter blackness of space was a moving experience: "In an instant you go, whoa, that’s death. That’s what I saw.”

Shatner said he was struck by the vulnerability of Earth and the relative sliver of its atmosphere.

“Everybody in the world needs to do this. Everybody in the world needs to see," he said. “To see the blue color whip by and now you’re staring into blackness, that’s the thing. The covering of blue, this sheath, this blanket, this comforter of blue that we have around, we say, ‘Oh, that’s blue sky.’ And then suddenly you shoot through it all, and you’re looking into blackness, into black ugliness.”

He said the return to Earth was more jolting than his training led him to expect and made him wonder whether he was going to make it home alive.

“Everything is much more powerful," he said. “Bang, this thing hits. That wasn’t anything like the simulator. ... Am I going to be able to survive the G-forces? Am I going to be able to survive it?”

Very interesting!