To oldly go, where no man has gone before

I failed to acknowledge one notable event yesterday. William Shatner, Captain Kirk himself, made it into space (well, to the edge of space) at the age of 90. There’s so much about this that’s cool. The obvious thing is his age – that pretty much crushes the idea that only young healthy folks can survive a launch. Good news for me. I might make it to the Moon after all.

The other cool aspect is the life imitating art part. Captain Kirk goes to space in real life! I spent many nights as a youngster hiding in the hallway watching Star Trek surreptitiously, because it was on way past my bedtime. Mom and Dad may have known I was there, but I doubt it. Then, 15+ years later, I spent many afternoons at college with my geeky friends drinking and watching those same Star Trek episodes. We knew every line and scene – that made it all the more fun.

It *is* kind of sad that the spaceship he rode looks like something from a scifi-porn movie. Or the Hitchhiker’s Guide. The Enterprise was iconic and cool. The Blue Origin New Shepherd…not so much.

But we take what we can get in real life, and I’m happy for Kirk/Shatner realizing this dream.

Final note – I can’t take credit for the post title. I read it somewhere last night, and it’s too good not to share.

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