Captain Kirk: Bezos' Blue Origin to Send William Shatner into Space

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58792761

by goodcanadian • 5 years ago

54 45 5 years ago

bbc.co.uk

daveslash2• 5 years ago

From the article "Reports in 2013 said he had turned down Sir Richard Branson's offer to fly him into space with Virgin Galactic" and "Shatner has a fear of flying"

I just feel the need to point out: Maybe Shatner feels safer on Blue Origin because the Virgin Galactic craft have wings, whereas Blue Origin craft don't?

Edit: There can't be "a man! on! the wing!" if there's no wing. ;-)

[I'll show myself out...]

TMWNN• 5 years ago

Given Shatner's prior comments on the subject, it's obvious that Bezos is paying Shatner a lot of money to be able to advertise that Captain Kirk flew on a Blue Origin rocket. Definitely the sort of thing that a competitor that knows that it is behind and is willing to do/pay anything to get ahead would do.

daveslash2• 5 years ago

You are, of course, correct. In fact, the article even states that explicitly. My comment was a [too?] subtle snarky reference to a famous 1963 episode of the Twilight Zone starring Shatner, in which there was "a man on the wing!". "Nightmare at 20,000 ft" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXHKDb0CNjA

dehrmann• 5 years ago

Shatner does seem to always want to make a buck, but at 90, with all those years of conventions, meet and greets, and sweet TJ Hooker royalty checks, doesn't he have enough money?

mytailorisrich• 5 years ago

"Shatner has a fear of flying"

I immediately thought of the Twilight Zone [1]

[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734600/

Hokusai• 5 years ago

"Bezos's Blue Origin hit headlines in recent days after 21 current and former employees claimed it had ignored safety concerns to gain an advantage in the space race, and complained of a culture of sexism."

That seems more like news instead of PR.

hibby• 5 years ago

Bezos if you kill Shatner so many people are going to be furious

IIAOPSW• 5 years ago

Guess it's too late for Bowie to have the "Major Tom" ending.

tecleandor• 5 years ago

Seems like it'll be "Rocket Man" instead.

https://youtu.be/lul-Y8vSr0I

whymauri• 5 years ago

Bezos is a huge Trek fan, so he'd be equally mortified is my guess.

justwalt• 5 years ago

I’m sure Bezos would feel bad for anyone’s death in this case.

lloydgrossman• 5 years ago

I'm not sure he's quite understood the economics of the 24th century.

flerchin• 5 years ago

The risk/reward doesn't seem to make sense for Bezos. If Shatner dies, it'll be the end of their program. If he lives, maybe a marginal benefit? The man is 90, and his health is not stellar. He legit could die of anything.

mataug• 5 years ago

The risk/reward doesn't seem to make sense for Bezos. If Shatner dies, it'll be the end of their program. If he lives, maybe a marginal benefit? The man is 90, and his health is not stellar. He legit could die of anything.

The whole space tourism idea has the same issue, if a rich billionaire, regardless of health condition, dies then Blue origin would have the same problem.

This seems on the surface to be a PR stunt to boost Bezos massive ego.

AdamHominem2• 5 years ago

Neither Virgin nor Blue Origin actually go into orbit or even "space", and both have a trash safety culture and a not-much-better record:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/science/jeff-bezos-blue-o...

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-red-warning-lig...

This is obviously a PR stunt, but the point of the stunt it to get people to think Blue Origin = "space"

DerekL• 5 years ago

No, Blue Origin really does go into space. But it's good to point out the huge difference between going to space and staying there.

Barrin92• 5 years ago

tbf given that it's Shatner you could morbidly enough spin it as a "Captain Kirk at last goes home, cultural sci-fi icon dies in space" thing, I have no doubt they would be rolling with that angle

Maursault4• 5 years ago

The risk vs. reward doesn't quite make sense for very nearly all ambitions of manned space exploration. But this isn't space exploration, it is civilians in space, which always was and always will be a dumb idea. Though 7 died in the Challenger disaster, 6 were astronauts, and 4 of those were military. They, and the 7 astronauts lost in the Columbia disaster, knew and understood the risks of space flight. Christa McAuliffe was neither an astronaut nor had a military career. Of all the mistakes NASA has made, the worst of them was killing a school teacher. Blue Origin and SpaceX have some astoundingly bad ideas specifically regarding civilians in space. There may be a compelling demand for it, but that doesn't make it moral or rational. I rate putting civilians in space on par with selling cocaine, except cocaine, as dangerous as it is, is not nearly as dangerous as space flight.

sokoloff3• 5 years ago

The school teacher was among 11K applicants to the program. I don’t find it immoral to allow non-military to put themselves voluntarily at risk.

usrusr• 5 years ago

The reward is that when the richest person on earth is running out of exciting new things to buy, "going into space(ish) with William Shatner" scores rather high. Wouldn't be surprised to see Bezos join that second trip.

cronix• 5 years ago

To boldly go where, now, a lot of men and women have gone before.

AdamHominem2• 5 years ago

"Very high altitude"

kgwxd• 5 years ago

The penultimate frontier.

lapetitejort2• 5 years ago

Not to be outdone, Elon announces plans to launch Shatner across the hood of a Tesla Model X.

Wait, wrong show...

JasonFruit2• 5 years ago

But will he get to say, "Engage"?

lapetitejort2• 5 years ago

That is Captain Jean-Luc Picard's phrase [0]. Kirk usual say "Take us out, Mr Sulu."

0: https://screenrant.com/star-trek-captains-engage-picard-pike...

JasonFruit2• 5 years ago

That was the joke, yes.

orionblastar2• 5 years ago

Well Shatner did promote other products like the Commodore VIC-20: https://youtu.be/UK9VU1aJvTI

boboche• 5 years ago

Careful how you treat this, lots of people around here got their first computer interaction with the VIC-20, completed their first programs tutorial with an ascii jumping jack and played gorf! ;)

orionblastar2• 5 years ago

Now Shatner has been in space with Blue Origin. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58885555

He played Captain Kirk in the original series of Star Trek.

ourmandave• 5 years ago

Is Elon countering with the guy who made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs?

sigzero• 5 years ago

"I've giv'n her all she's got captain, an' I canna give her no more."

robomartin• 5 years ago

My take is a little bit different from what I've read so far. SpaceX just completed a truly history all-civilian, all-non-astronaut, three day orbital flight at an altitude above the ISS. SpaceX also secured Artemis mission contracts. They go to space all the time and continue to optimize their reusable orbital-class systems.

the Blue Origin and Virgin offerings are not even in the same class. And Blue Origin/Bezos is struggling to remain relevant. I see the Shatner thing purely as a publicity stunt. I also see it as having no real value whatsoever. Just my opinion.

On top of that, they raised over $200MM for St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

The SpaceX Netflix documentary on the Inspiration4 mission is worth watching.

Here's the flight's website:

https://inspiration4.com/

hunterb123• 5 years ago

That's a spot on summary.

tomschlick• 5 years ago

Alternative Title: Desperate Billionaire plans to launch beloved actor slightly past the definition of space in oddly shaped rocket in attempt to stay relevant

Nevermark• 5 years ago

Very exciting! Has Blue Origin announced any plans to bring the Shatner back?

This is wishful and sentimental thinking, but it would be great if one (sad) day SpaceX would send Shatner into 5-year solar orbit, in a USS Enterprise shaped mausoleum, laid out in natural repose on the sleeping pad of his Captain's Quarters.

I know it would console me.

A first and most fitting Orbituary.

Once every five years we could all tune in to a fragile signal...

"Captain's Log. Stardate 4768.3. The Enterprise is passing over a planet whose surface, our sensors tell us, is covered in life forms. A world predicted to be destroyed and dead due to its inhabitants short sightedness. But apparently the planet's citizens have begun working through their problems. From it comes the combined voice of its inhabitants, speaking of loss and joy, through the energy of pure thought. Their voices tell us of hope that they will achieve increasing harmony together, for thousands of centuries to come. Ships computer, make a note to pass back here again. Captain's Log out."

Captain Kirk: Bezos' Blue Origin to Send William Shatner into Space

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