William Shatner's Going To Space On Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin (tmz.com) 70
schwit1 shares a report from TMZ: The 90-year-old actor is slated to be part of the second crew to take the space flight in the New Shepard capsule. That would make him the oldest person ever to be launched into space. We're told Shatner will be on board in October for the 15-minute civilian flight -- similar to the last launch. What we don't know -- BUT WHAT WOULD BE AWESOME -- is if he wears his Capt. Kirk getup. Our sources say the mission will be filmed for a documentary. We're told Shatner's people were talking to Discovery about the special, but that didn't materialize ... but our sources say Shatner and Co. have taken the project elsewhere and are in negotiations.
Reasonable (Score:4, Interesting)
This is probably a reasonable flight to "space" for someone his age and physical condition. I very much doubt he could tolerate a flight on SpaceX into actual orbit, like the Inspiration4 mission that just finished, due to G forces, duration, and total time in zero-G. Pretty much this is what Blue Origin's glorified suborbital amusement park ride is best for.
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He's not John Glenn, who was a stunning physical specimen all his life.
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95. And a half.
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He's not dead. He's just holding his breath to prove he can do it longer than the other astronaut candidates.
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id rather make you fine folks do all the work when im home. thank you for your service
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He's two John Glenn's.
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He's lost some weight, he's not _thaT_ big any more.
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1.65
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They were aliens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Antique Geekmeister observed:
He's not John Glenn, who was a stunning physical specimen all his life.
Shatner trains and rides cutting horses competitively. That's a strenuous activity which demands non-trivial core physical strength, excellent balance, and comprehensive situational awareness. I think he'll be okay with a measly 3 gees for 2.5 minutes ...
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I've known some riders, including some competitive ones. I'd not compare their physical condition to that of John Glenn unless they competed while carrying the horse.
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More strenuous for the horses, than for him, i'd imagine. There's actually a fetish market for horse abuse videos out there, where overweight people sit on horses that clearly can't carry their weight. People are weird.
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He must still be in fairly robust health. I'm surprised Bezos would accept the risk of shooting someone that old up in space.
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He must still be in fairly robust health. I'm surprised Bezos would accept the risk of shooting someone that old up in space.
Presumably the doctors have given him a thorough checkup.
I suspect there's a lot of 90 year olds in robust health, the problem is they tend to transition out of robust health at a very high rate.
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He must still be in fairly robust health. I'm surprised Bezos would accept the risk of shooting someone that old up in space.
I sincerely hope you meant "into space" ... :-)
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It would be an honor to have Kirk croak on your ship. "He died where no man has died before."
Re:Reasonable (Score:4, Funny)
Simply make sure Shatner isn't wearing a red shirt.
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Do it all the way (Score:5, Insightful)
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More canon if it was Zefram Cochrane.
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Captain Kirk get stranded on Earth circa 1960.
Then, cons a ride on Blue Origin to personally deliver a beacon into LEO to grab the attention of the Vulcans.
Then, somewhat later, secretly meets with the TNG mission to be sure Zefram Cochrane invents warp drive for mankind.
The rest would be fiction.
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Given that it will be a three minute tour ... a three minute tour, maybe it would be more appropriate to name it S. S. Minnow. He could still be the skipper, though.
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I'd totally love to see a remake of Gilligan's Island, in space, with Shatner playing the skipper. They should have pitched *that* idea to the Discovery Channel.
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Captain!!
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Make him sing Rocketman on the way up
https://youtu.be/lul-Y8vSr0I [youtu.be]
Will it also be a giant, thrusting cock and balls? (Score:2)
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Will it also be a giant, thrusting cock and balls?
That's George Takei's flight.
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...Oh MY!
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Mod parent up. No offense intended to Mr. Takei.
Isn't this the same guy... (Score:2)
William Shatner ? Isn't this the same guy who, when asked during and interview if he'd like to actually go into space someday, simply answered: "Why ?"
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Or, "It pays."
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Shatner did a tv show about his home because they paid for the construction. No way is he paying for this.
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Actually he's canadian.
Sorry about your confusion contusion.
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No way is he paying for this.
Quite the opposite, I'm sure.
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Well, he's 90; and he's come to realize that the apogee of a Blue Origin flight is the closest to heaven he's ever going to get.
Obligatory Futurama pic [theinfosphere.org]
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Well, he certainly put those of us who had to work with him through hell. I have worked with some absolute assholes over the last 45 years, and he's right up there with the top ones.
Re:Isn't this the same guy... (Score:5, Interesting)
He was in a traveling summer stock show that had a week's run at the Cherry County Playhouse in northern Michigan, where I was a techie in 1980. I don't remember the name of the show, only that it was dreadful, and even though it called for a character who was sensitive and insightful he was still playing Captain Kirk instead. The man was an insufferable boor who demanded special accommodations that we never had to make for anyone else, treated everyone around him as peasants (including his costar), insisted we rent a 20 foot sailboat for him which was not in his contract (and which he never used), treated the fans poorly, refused to sign autographs even though it was in his contract, and spent 53 minutes (we timed it) of the contracted hour he needed to be in the opening night reception in the bathroom, hallway, or kitchen. This was also during his run as "tough on drugs" cop in 'TJ Hooker', but about half way through the run his dresser came to me (I was the only long-hair in the group) in a panic saying, "Brian, we need some coke! Shatner's out of coke and you have to get us some!" Told the little weasel to fuck off.
Worked with some actual stars during my time in the theater, they varied from delightful to annoying, but Shatner stood out for being the only true asshole of the bunch.
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He's 90 years old, what does he have to lose? It's not like he has a long, promising future ahead of him. At this point the answer is probably "Why not?".
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"Because it's there."
Star Trek (Score:2)
It would definitely be awesome if he went up as Kirk, but doesnâ(TM)t Paramount own the Capt. Kirk character? If they are not on board with this (though I would presume they would be), can they sue him? I guess it does not matter. Trying to sue a 90 year old may backfire.
He ought to go instead with SpaceX, I am not a big fan of Bezos after he deliberately slowed down the next moon landing attempt. Also, 50 miles up should not be recognized as space because cloud phenomena (noctilucent clouds) occur sl
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I don't understand why so many media companies sue away free publicity. It's lawsuit turrettes.
Starbug (Score:2)
Re: Star Trek (Score:2)
Given the state of Star Trek, film and TV, Paramount CBS desperately needs positive publicity for Star Trek. That said, it wouldn't surprise me if they would sue. As of late they've been giving Warner Brothers executives a run for their money in competition to make the worst possible decisions.
Oh my! (Score:1)
Send the whole bridge crew! (Score:3)
I swear to Suto'vo'qor Bezos (Score:3)
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For any others on the flight, they better ... (Score:2)
For any others on the flight, they better make sure not to wear a red shirt that day.
Re: For any others on the flight, they better ... (Score:2)
He went full SJW. Last I heard of him working was his appearances in after-show videos to promote Picard. They weren't exactly popular.
The most amusing thing was when Wesley flounced out of Twitter to escape the bigots (i.e. 99% of the world's population in his view). He found his hugbox at Mastodon. What he didn't realise is that the users there are essentially Will Wheatons. In short order he caused offence, the Wheatons accused Wheaton of 'transphobia', among other things, and he fled. All he left was a
Er, wait ... (Score:1)
Er, wait ... is it still bad for rich guys to go on private space trips?
Trying to keep up with my Slashdot zeitgeist here ..
Ofcourse.. (Score:2)
So He's Not Going to Space (Score:2)