Star Trek's William Shatner On His Plan To Boldly Go Into Space (cbsnews.com) 118
In an interview with Gayle King on "CBS Mornings," Star Trek's William Shatner talks about his plan to boldly go into space, becoming the oldest person to do so. He's planning to launch to the final frontier on Wednesday, courtesy of Jeff Bezos and his rocket company Blue Origin. CBS News reports: Shatner joked that he'll be able to brag about the age record. But he said his actual motivation was "to have the vision. I want to see space. I want to see the Earth. I want to see what we need to do to save Earth." "I want to have a perspective that hasn't been shown to me before," he said. "That's what I'm interested in seeing."
Shatner will eclipse Funk's record by eight years and John Glenn's mark before that by 13. "I'm looking forward to the whole thing," Shatner told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "Imagine being weightless and staring into the blackness and seeing the Earth, that's what I want to absorb." But he added, smiling: "Things like that go up and boom in the night. It's a little scary, I'll tell you." The most difficult challenges for 90-year-old Shatner likely will be climbing the seven flights of stairs required to reach the gangway to board the New Shepard capsule and then enduring more than five times the normal force of gravity during descent. But Funk had no problems, and Blue Origin officials presumably expect the same for Shatner.
Shatner will eclipse Funk's record by eight years and John Glenn's mark before that by 13. "I'm looking forward to the whole thing," Shatner told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "Imagine being weightless and staring into the blackness and seeing the Earth, that's what I want to absorb." But he added, smiling: "Things like that go up and boom in the night. It's a little scary, I'll tell you." The most difficult challenges for 90-year-old Shatner likely will be climbing the seven flights of stairs required to reach the gangway to board the New Shepard capsule and then enduring more than five times the normal force of gravity during descent. But Funk had no problems, and Blue Origin officials presumably expect the same for Shatner.
If one of the other billionaires want to beat that (Score:4, Interesting)
I think they should ask David Attenborough.
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Challenges (Score:4, Funny)
The most difficult challenges for 90-year-old Shatner likely will be climbing the seven flights of stairs required to reach the gangway to board the New Shepard capsule and then enduring more than five times the normal force of gravity during descent.
Where's Scotty when you need him...
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Where's Scotty when you need him...
Waiting in orbit. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Re:Challenges (Score:5, Funny)
Where's Scotty when you need him...
He's dead, Jim
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Where's Scotty when you need him...
He's dead, Jim
"Bones, too, Jim."
And tell that TNG whippersnapper to get off my lawn!
On a heavier note: Space flight should be serious, not a publicity stunt. Plus this particular stunt could implode. I hope Jim is healthy enough for the trip.
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I think you're missing the main points. Abuse of "legendary science fiction icons" is is only tangentially related to one of them. The point of your post appears to be that you like Musk more than Bezos or Branson, but there's little accounting for taste.
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I'm still having trouble interpreting what you're trying to say. Maybe you should clarify what you think they are doing? Or why they are doing these things?
So me first? I think Branson is a huckster and this particular "huck" is space tourism. I think Bezos and Musk have similar motivations based on similar SF-driven fantasies. However Musk seems to be executing better than Bezos, which may push Bezos into competition with Branson. That's where I file this trip with Shatner.
In probable contrast to my best g
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The difference as I see it is that SpaceX is focusing on larger scale reusable launch platform technology, as evidenced by the kinds of launches they do for their clients. They've succeeded fantastically at lowering the total cost of full scale launches and made it to the point of (so far) reliable crew transport to existing space infrastructure. Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic on the other hand are a lot more marke
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Okay, I think you've clarified your position somewhat, but I mostly disagree with it. However, it sounds like you are satisfied with your ideas or you would have already probed at the weaknesses, so it feels to me that I'd be wasting time to list all the details. Most of the flaws are obvious enough that you must prefer to ignore them.
I'll just add three tangential angles you might want to consider. One is that the hype about privatization is just that. NASA always paid commercial companies to do the actual
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Taking Casket With Them? (Score:2)
Could get a 2 for 1 special with that launch. I'm sure that's where he wants to be buried anyway.
save the earth (Score:2)
by not going
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Will that do the trick? Will that save us all? Just this one launch?
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Will that save us all? Just this one launch?
It's part of a programme. Bezos, Musk and Co want to demonstrate to politicians and investors that space travel is OK for any of us, even geriatrics, and so popularise it. Shatner's trip makes good publicity to that end. Musk has plans to transport thousands at a time in Space X Starships, so sex tourists can get to Pattaya fast and then back home again for dinner.
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So, "No?"
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Will that do the trick? Will that save us all? Just this one launch?
No. But if Shatner wants to burn 100 tonnes of fuel for a joyride, he should skip the hypocrisy of saying, "I want to see what we need to do to save Earth."
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New Shepard holds about 54 tons of fuel from what I can find and has four passengers. So that's about 13.5 tons of fuel per person. That's a fair amount. The average car uses about 1.7 tons of fuel per year, so that's about 8 years worth of driving. So, kind of a lot all in one go, but not really all that much at all in the grand scheme of things. Compared to, for example, flying around in a private jet, it's a drop in the bucket.
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If other posters are correct and it burns H2 and O2, it'll also generate a lot of water but not much in the way of pollutants. Jet fuel, on the other hand, contains a lot of nasties.
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Hydrogen is made by steam reforming of methane.
Six tonnes of CO2 are emitted for each tonne of H2 produced.
So Shatner's 13.5-tonne "share" of H2 represents 81 tonnes of CO2 emitted.
Does that matter in the big picture? No, it doesn't.
But it certainly isn't helping to "see what we need to do to save the earth." That is hypocritical bullcrap.
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Steam reforming of methane may be the easiest way to get hydrogen, but I know at least 8 other techniques for doing so.
Including the rather low tech electrolysis of water with electricity generated by a current turbine hanging off an anchored barge in a river.
HEY- Waterlily should add that to their lineup - bet they could create a hydrogen fueled high energy generator, run off of low energy hydrogen harvesting- enough to run a 50 horse outboard anyway.
Re:save the earth (Score:4, Informative)
The byproduct of New Shephard's hydrolox engines is... water.
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Sure, but just pointing that out leads to the rabbit hole of then having to address where the hydrogen came from and what the source of the power to extract the O2 from the atmosphere was, etc., etc. It's probably a semi-valid question. I can't find anything suggesting that they're using hydrogen electrolyzed from water with renewable power or anything like that. So it's probably made from fossil fuels. The fact that, although it's a lot all at once, it's not really a lot of fuel in the grand scheme of thi
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I can't find anything suggesting that they're using hydrogen electrolyzed from water with renewable power
It doesn't matter. Energy is fungible. So even if renewable energy was used, the net emissions are the same because that renewable power wasn't used to displace fossil fuel elsewhere on the grid.
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That argument holds weight when using renewable energy from some limited pool, but it doesn't work if they build out their own renewable power plant to produce fuel. If it's mostly devoted to fuel, with some capacity sent to the grid to offset the production/setup costs of the plant, then it's carbon neutral. They don't appear to be doing anything like that, but if they were, it would certainly help counter part of the environmental argument. There is of course the argument that all resource usage and devel
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It would actually be about the most efficient possible use of a solar power array. Think about it - set up enough solar power collectors to generate your hydrogen using electrolysis, give it a few months head start to build up a reserve, then you are golden.
You don't care about weather, cloudy days, etc. - you are banking on the average amount of power generated to meet your needs - just have enough storage to keep you supplied during the slow periods, and enough to store up excess during the high producti
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It might be the cheapest cost of storage. There are concerns about storing the hydrogen though due to problems with metal embrittlement for metal storage tanks, loss of hydrogen right through the tank walls, or through seals that would hold against hydrocarbon gases, requiring special storage tanks, valves, fittings, etc. The flammability concern is real. I used to think it wasn't that bad compared to natural gas or propane, but hydrogen actually ignites at a much lower concentration in air than other fuel
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And when burned in air it also makes nitrogen oxides.
It isn't burned in the air. It is burned with LOX.
2 for 1 deal on the fuel? (Score:2)
Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran received criticism by commenting on designer jeans meant for entertainer Whoopi Goldberg, claiming that she Barbara could cut them down and have two pairs of jeans.
Seeing a recent video of William Shatner in a not-so-flattering shirt, I am wondering if for the fuel for his trip into space, me and a friend could ride in his place?
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There's overhead involved in accommodating a single person in addition to just their total mass. I'm pretty sure that doubling that overhead would use up any excess from Shatner being portly.
Was it over when Germany bombed Pearl Harbor? (Score:2)
https://www.bing.com/videos/se... [bing.com]
Germans?
Forget it, he's rolling.
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Maybe you could do some research first?
The New Shepard rocket burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
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I wonder if the exclusion area for the launch pad is big enough that you could pave it in solar panels to use with an electrolysis setup to produce the fuel between launches. I suppose that the launch would damage the panels if they were too close, but there has to be a range at which the launch wouldn't cause a problem for the panels while still being in the safety exclusion area of the launch pad.
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He has to say something, he's famous and people are asking him. He's an old man, he's not going to do a lot of planet saving. Saying something inspirational is his only chance for contribution, and 1) that's not why he's going, he's going because it is fun and he can and 2) he's not actually any good at being inspirational. So he just makes an empty statement, and as long as nobody has to listen to him sing Rockman everybody is happy. Well, maybe not you, but most people.
Corrected quote (Score:2)
The quote seems to be paraphrased, he actually said
"to have... the... vision. I want to see... space. I want to... see the... Earth. I want to s...ee what we... need... to do to save... Earth."
Probably the place to start saving the Earth is to not go on pointless joyrides that emit large quantities of CO2.
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I can imagine that some people who can afford this, might seek out to do so as some kind of spiritual experience that is supposed to enlighten them, like some people swear on things like a ayahusaca ceremony having changed their view on life.
Likely there is some merit on the psychedelic drug thing. Though this "Overview effect" might be some serious sample bias at play here, since this
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>Seeing Earth from space is known to induce the "Overview effect" in individuals, which makes them reconsider priorities.
Well thats good then, we only need to make a few billion launches to wake up the world population to climate change.
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I'd be ethically more justifiable to drug them with psychedelics, or you know, just hit them on the head with a heavy object.
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Again. It'd be more effective and ethically justified to do that unethical shit, than waste resources on getting all the 'special' people to take a shot at the "Overview effect". This style of rhetoric is called hyperbole.
Shatner's Acting (Score:5, Interesting)
Although I am a Picard rather than a Kirk fan, I should point out that Shatner gets undeserved flak about his performance as Kirk. Look at his other performances, especially earlier ones like the Nuremberg Trials, he delivers his lines very competently for each role he is in. In Star Trek, he was asked to portray a 23rd century starfleet captain. He interpreted that as "dramatic", "intense", "pompous" or whatever else you want to call it. The director seems to have agreed to that too. I find it fine, that's how Kirk is, by choice.
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I actually really enjoy his acting style in Trek. It's kind of nuts, sometimes you wonder if he has forgotten his lines.
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His fighting is way more nuts! :D
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It's a result of the tinnitus. It made it hard for him to hear himself speak at times.
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And don't forget his stellar performances in T. J. Hooker.
Denny Crane (Score:2)
Boston Legal has to be "the real" William Shatner
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Part of Shatner's clipped line delivery is a result of very bad tinnitus as a result of ear damage that he got doing the filming of one episode of Star Trek, "Arena." He stood too close to a special effects explosion and it damaged his hearing permanently and caused extreme tinnitus that he has had to this day. The tinnitus made it very hard for him to hear himself sometimes. I don't think it took long for him to turn his clipped line delivery into a dramatic shtick that seems to have worked well for him
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>Although I am a Picard rather than a Kirk fan,
OK, so your opinion doesn't count. No reason to read the rest of the post . . . :)
But there's a psychiatric facility over there that might help you . . .
hawk
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Maybe Blue Origin should plant a bunch of trees to offset the CO2 output of their launches? Al Gore does it, so it should be enough the make the environmentalists happy.
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If the New Shepard rocket actually emitted CO2, maybe you'd have more of a point.
It burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, so this produces water vapour.
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It depends on how they produce the H2 and O2, as H2 is generally produced from cracking natural gas, so is very CO2 producing. However, that is something that could be solved.
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According to other posters, it burns hydrogen and oxygen, so zero CO2 production.
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BE-3 for example uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. BE-4 uses liquid methane and liquid oxygen.
I tried to look up which rocket engine Bozo used for his personal experience, but I couldn't come up with anything definite. And by extension no idea what the rocket engine for the Kirk.
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The New Shepard uses the BE-3 [wikipedia.org].
BE-4 [wikipedia.org] is still in development and is supposed to be used for their New Glenn (if that ever happens).
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Shatners flight won't be using a different engine.
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According to other posters, it burns hydrogen and oxygen, so zero CO2 production.
Except most hydrogen production is predicated upon CO2 release. And even if they aren't using such a method it's a fungible commodity so if they're consuming other producers' output then they're just driving other consumers to hydrogen from such sources.
Lifecycle, not just direct. Live it.
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CO2 isn't the only greenhouse gas, and the rocket itself isn't the only source of emissions.
It has to be built, and there is a large amount of support equipment and operations going on around it.
Plan to boldy go into space (Score:2)
Step #1: drop 100 lbs
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Ever since the TJ Hooker years, he's definitely put on some timber. The opening credits had him running - which he looked like he could barely manage - and that was when he was close to his "prime". The stairs may be his undoing - maybe Bezos will fit a stair lift?
Saving Earth (Score:2)
he said his actual motivation was "to have the vision. I want to see space. I want to see the Earth. I want to see what we need to do to save Earth
Don't they all say that crap? Yeah, sure, seing Earth as a blue disk from space will tell him exactly what's needed, I'm sure. If he really wants to see what needs to be done to save Earth he should visit India. Then he could see that Earth's population numbers need to stop increasing, and in the longer run decrease.
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India contributed 2.5 metric tons of CO per capita in 2018 vs 18.44 metric tons in the USA
"The Earth needing saving" is not just about CO2. It is also about the land area to grow food, adequate space to live in, the availability of enough essential materials such as copper, the survival of habitats for creatures other than human beings, and the existence, avaibility and accessiblity of "wild" places not covered in concrete where we can go to unwind.
You are looking at things from a wrong perspective, The CO2 problem is only one facet of the much larger problem of over-population. If you only
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Then the answer is simple. The USA needs a massive increase in population.
You misspelt decrease in standard of living.
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Given that India contributed 2.5 metric tons of CO per capita in 2018 vs 18.44 metric tons in the USA
You misspelt decrease in standard of living.
Let's examine that
For urban areas, it was Rs 1000 per month or Rs 33 per day. Using this methodology, the population below the poverty line in 2009-2010 was 354 million (29.6% of the population) and that in 2011-2012 was 269 million (21.9% of the population)
21% of the population of India lives below the poverty line at last count. They stopped counting in 2011 because the numbers were so bad.
For clarity, Rs 1000 per month is roughly $13.00 per month.
13% of the Indian homes either have no electricity or use generators for electricity
82% of rural households and almost 60% of urban households in India don't have running water
50% of people living in India don't have internet access
14% of the population is undernourished in India.
Are you r
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I was just pointing out the absurdity of the parent.
Thanks for providing the details.
India isn't cleaner because it has less people. It's cleaner because they have an inferior lifestyle to Americans.
A lifestyle that is completely unsustainable. If everyone in China and India had the same lifestyle as Americans and polluted as much as Americans. What do you think would happen?
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Don't they all say that crap?
I think an emotional view of our planet as a whole is beneficial to real environmental causes. So more power to Bill Shatner, and let him describe his experience. Another point, closer to me as an old bloke, is that someone aged 90 can go on an adventure.
How about sending up a Flat Earther (Score:2)
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Re: How about sending up a Flat Earther (Score:2)
Though flat earthers sound quite stupid to us, for an independent all knowing observer they aren't that removed from our own stupidity. For eg:
Atoms and protons / neutrons /electrons are always depicted as spherical but are actually just weird myriad subatomic particles (with even weirder properties like "they dont spin, they 'have' spin - aka - we call it spin just to visualize it) which are also spherical but then you go deeper and find out it's all ultimately just strings vibrating in many different way
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If a Flat Earther changes their view to reflect what the data suggests for any reason, to other Flat Earthers that usually just means that they've fallen victim to the conspiracy, that the conspiracy finally got to them because they became too dangerous or something like that.
The underlying problem is that you using critical thinking and deductive reasoning usually has quite limited effects on people who never learned the value of logic. It's part of their circula
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They'd just say the window glass was distorting their view or some other rubbish in order to continue to confirm their beliefs.
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Your fallacy is that you are trying to use Logic to change a person who is ruled by Emotion.
There will always be spiritually blind people: Flat Earthers, Atheists, Alien Deniers, etc.
There is no point in wasting everyone's time. There is even an old proverb about it:
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
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Your fallacy is that you are trying to use Logic to change a person who is ruled by Emotion.
There will always be spiritually blind people: Flat Earthers, Atheists, Alien Deniers, etc.
There is no point in wasting everyone's time. There is even an old proverb about it:
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
Or:
"You can lead lead a person to knowledge, but you can't make them think"
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Send up one Flerfer. He comes back and says "The world is a ball". The Flerf community promptly says he is lying or was duped.
It really is a no win situation.
Since Blue Origin still can't achive orbit! (Score:4, Insightful)
Must be a really wild ride. But it is just a ride!
As for Shatner good for him!
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Yes, this. Mod parent up
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Certainly SpaceX is WAY ahead. But in this case getting a look-see and coming back down probably is better for him.
He has to go at it alone (Score:2)
No place for others, he plans to take his hams.
Apples, Oranges (Score:2)
Yeah, but Wally Funk is 100% real life badass.
Save earth? (Score:2)
Shatner: “I want to see what we need to do to save Earth.”
Maybe stop going to space for amusement?
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These amusements create jobs and funds new innovations.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
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As long as he finds something to *say*, rather than *sing* . . .
You almost had me there, Bill (Score:2)
You had me right up until the "save the earth" load of bullsh*t. Other than that, go for it.
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You had me right up until the "save the earth" load of bullsh*t. Other than that, go for it.
Not entirely. We're (mostly) all too young to remember but the initial photos of Earth from space did have a significant social impact. Both politically (just land and ocean instead of maps coloured by country) and seeing the entire planet at once made it seem more vulnerable and finite.
He's an old man, finding some inspiration he can use to help inspire others to save the planet might be an actual motivation he has.
asstronaut ... Shatner's words, not mine. (Score:2)
When CNN asked them if they all thought the term astronaut would apply to them, three of them incorrectly said yes (astronauts train for years and can actually pilot, not just sit as passengers). However Shatner, who some would think would have the biggest head about it said (paraphrased), "sure, if you spell it with a lower case "a" followed by two "s's"). Best answer, and totally respectable.
Things Shatner apparently can't see... (Score:2)
I read William Shatner's autobiography the other day.
He talks about how he and Leonard Nimoy were best friends, then one day Leonard wouldn't speak to him any more, and that was the end of their relationship and he doesn't know why.
This doesn't seem to me, to be the kind of person who can clearly see things.
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Old blokes doing loony things (Score:2)
This is very positive about how old people are not just thrown away after a certain age. Bill Shatner has earned enough money in his life to go up into space. Good job, I say. Money well spent. I can put up with Bill's mannered acting style in Star Trek. It is part of the charm. I look forward to how Bill describes his experience.
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