William Shatner Ventures Into Space
Oct 13, 2021 14:40:04 GMT -5
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Post by Melinda Halliwell on Oct 13, 2021 14:40:04 GMT -5
Forget space tourism – William Shatner’s real-life star trek can help us live long and prosper on this planet.
SOURCE: MSN Money.com by Oliver Duff 13/10/2021.
www.msn.com/en-gb/money/technology/forget-space-tourism-e2-80-93-william-shatner-e2-80-99s-real-life-star-trek-can-help-us-live-long-and-prosper-on-this-planet/ar-AAPtXpz?ocid=uxbndlbing
Before too long, space visits by amateur astronauts will stop being newsworthy.
William Shatner’s first real trip to space, aged 90 – making him the oldest human visitor – was of course a shameless PR stunt for Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin, following reports alleging a “toxic” work culture at the firm.
And with Bezos competing against Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, this phallus-waving is easy to mock.
Nevertheless the symbolism of Shatner’s journey was potent. We are now living in an era of reusable, relatively cheap rockets that are safe enough (so far) for the elderly to take a day-trip to space. It certainly beats a coach trip, although conditions are no more comfortable.
Shatner’s experience was existential – he was astonished by the fragility of Earth’s life-giving atmosphere, as you cross from blue to black.
Upon returning to Earth, he said: “I’m so filled with emotion with what just happened. I hope I never recover from this, I hope I can maintain what I feel now – I don’t want to lose it.”
Space tourism has barely begun and already it has an image problem. These are joyrides for the wealthy with questionable exploration value, critics argue, with grim environmental impact that includes emissions in the upper atmosphere, threatening the beauty they wish to showcase.
The billionaire sponsors could have invested their fortunes in making Earth habitable for much longer, sceptics point out.
All of that has merit – and using fiction’s most famous space traveller to gloss over horrible headlines – won’t fix the problems. Yet perhaps some of these amateur space pioneers can help to shine a light on the frailty of our current (and probably only future) home.
SOURCE: MSN Money.com by Oliver Duff 13/10/2021.
www.msn.com/en-gb/money/technology/forget-space-tourism-e2-80-93-william-shatner-e2-80-99s-real-life-star-trek-can-help-us-live-long-and-prosper-on-this-planet/ar-AAPtXpz?ocid=uxbndlbing
Before too long, space visits by amateur astronauts will stop being newsworthy.
William Shatner’s first real trip to space, aged 90 – making him the oldest human visitor – was of course a shameless PR stunt for Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin, following reports alleging a “toxic” work culture at the firm.
And with Bezos competing against Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, this phallus-waving is easy to mock.
Nevertheless the symbolism of Shatner’s journey was potent. We are now living in an era of reusable, relatively cheap rockets that are safe enough (so far) for the elderly to take a day-trip to space. It certainly beats a coach trip, although conditions are no more comfortable.
Shatner’s experience was existential – he was astonished by the fragility of Earth’s life-giving atmosphere, as you cross from blue to black.
Upon returning to Earth, he said: “I’m so filled with emotion with what just happened. I hope I never recover from this, I hope I can maintain what I feel now – I don’t want to lose it.”
Space tourism has barely begun and already it has an image problem. These are joyrides for the wealthy with questionable exploration value, critics argue, with grim environmental impact that includes emissions in the upper atmosphere, threatening the beauty they wish to showcase.
The billionaire sponsors could have invested their fortunes in making Earth habitable for much longer, sceptics point out.
All of that has merit – and using fiction’s most famous space traveller to gloss over horrible headlines – won’t fix the problems. Yet perhaps some of these amateur space pioneers can help to shine a light on the frailty of our current (and probably only future) home.
Or any other species of Star Trek universe out there. 
