Warp factor one Mr. Sulu.

Good for him! For the rest of us, aside from the select few, we can still dream to go up there.

I saw that - kinda poetic, Kirk in space.  Whoever designed that rocket/capsule combo had a sense of humor....lol

"If you ask me...and you haven't...I think this is a terrible idea.  We're bound to run into the Klingons, and they don't exactly like you."

Good for him!  I'll just have to hope that they start installing Garmin flight decks in these things so I can fix one of them and then say "OK...now I just have to go with you on a test flight."

keavdog

 Whoever designed that rocket/capsule combo had a sense of humor....lol

 

keavdog

I saw that - kinda poetic, Kirk in space.  Whoever designed that rocket/capsule combo had a sense of humor....lol

Every time I see that ship I think the same thing.

To boldly go..... on his favorite ride and in his symbolic style.

On another note, I wonder if he flipped his wig.

I wondered if they had enough fuel to provide the necessary additional thrust to get him up there.

the Baron

I wondered if they had enough fuel to provide the necessary additional thrust to get him up there.

No problem.

They used the new dilithium crystal boosters.

I saw the whole thing.  When the main rocket (otherwise known as engineering) landed while the upper fins were still out it looked like a alien life form with those big black areas at the top.

I think all the people who were starship captains should go up.  Maybe the more importand crew members could go up in the other ship that detaches from its mothership.

Anybody who goes up just has to remember not to wear a red shirt.  You don't want to be that guy.  

Thanks everyone, for joining in.

There was one minor problem, though, when Shatner started yelling that there was a man outside on the hull.  They had to sedate him.

"She was shakin' in every rrrivet, Cap'n. They'll never believe this back at the yard!".

I liked the part where Bozos interrupted Shatner to open a bottle of champagne.

Real classy.

Other than that, it was really a neat thing to watch, wasn't it? I still can't get used to those boosters landing upright like a corny old sci-fi movie. So cool.

Whoever ran the press op for that should have to walk home.

I thought Shatner really expressed well that he was pretty much scared to death and the site of actually leaving earth behind was overwhelming.

I liked watching it too. But it's always scary because the death rate for going to space is high, something like 3%.

Bill 

GMorrison

I thought Shatner really expressed well that he was pretty much scared to death and the site of actually leaving earth behind was overwhelming.

I thought so too, Bill.

So glad everything went smoothly. Amazing stuff.

Another thing that amazed me was that on Alan Shepard's recovery (and all subsequent recoveries through Apollo), an entire aircraft carrier, crew, and it's support ships and some aircraft were required.

This morning it was a couple guys in a pickup truck.

It's a shame that 3rd Rock From the Sun isn't on anymore, John Lithgow could have had another Big Head moment.

Duhuhyah, space is awesome!!!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XD66suMp3J4

"Hullo.  Jeff.  Bozos."  

All kidding aside, it is remarkable that non-astronauts can make trips to space now.  But you have to remember, everything out there can kill you - heat, cold, vacuum, radiation, micro meteors, bad food and no showers. The Final Frontier is not really a playground for the premium coffee twitter fail crowd.

Greg

This morning it was a couple guys in a pickup truck.

That was literally the same 'recovery crew' I had when I took my first hot air balloon ride...though, to the best of my recollection, Jeff Bezos was nowhere in sight.... 

Real G

...All kidding aside, it is remarkable that non-astronauts can make trips to space now... 

Only the timing.  I think it was and is inevitable, that there will be commercial, civilian space travel.  It's a matter of time, given our technological advances over the past hundred years, and their trajectories into the future.  There are stumbling blocks, but they're not in the fields of technology that go into blasting off from a gravity well.  They're more features of fields like our nature, and its impact on international politics-the old story of "If we don't destroy ourselves, first..."  

Flight came about the same way.  At the turn of the last century, it became more and more likely that someone would work it out.  The technological prerequisites were present, and it just took someone to piece them together, a la James Burke's "Connections" or "The Day the Universe Changed".

gregbale

 

 

Greg

This morning it was a couple guys in a pickup truck.

 

 

That was literally the same 'recovery crew' I had when I took my first hot air balloon ride...though, to the best of my recollection, Jeff Bezos was nowhere in sight.... 

 

I was so glad I got a chance to see that flight!  I had both the TV and my computer tuned to it, so I could switch between sources.  I spent my whole career in technology development in the aerospace industry.  I retired in 2000.  It was amazing to me to see the progress that has been made in the last two decades.  Although I am somewhat disappointed in parachute landings as old technology, I was amazed at the accuracy in predicting the touchdown point.  And now we even have recoverable boosters as well as capsules!  And the size of the windows was amazing.  Wonder if those will work on orbit re-entry as well as suborbital.

It was a great thrill to watch the excellent video work.  It was amazing how close they let that drone fly to the ascent trajectory!  And the quality of the video- amazing how small l, low cost, and light hi-res video cameras are these days.  My wife runs a small home-based video production business (weddings, parties etc.) and we have gotten rid of all our old NTSC gear.

William Shatner - Space Oddity - YouTube

I STILL haven't seen this. I've got to look for some of the YouTube videos this weekend.

Hopefully when I'm The Shat's age the technology will be cheap enough even I can get a ride. Though they'll probably just shoot me up and just let me keep going... 

I was so impressed with Shatner and how emotional he was relating his experience to Bezos. I was disappointed in Bezos when he interrupted Shatner so he could get a bottle of champagne to squirt people with, ala Dan Gurney. How rude.

I hope Shatner writes an essay about his experience to share with us.

Gamera

I STILL haven't seen this. I've got to look for some of the YouTube videos this weekend.

 

Hopefully when I'm The Shat's age the technology will be cheap enough even I can get a ride. Though they'll probably just shoot me up and just let me keep going... 

 

There's tons of stuff already on YouTube about the flight. YouTube is how I watched the flight live yesterday.

But did he say "engage"? 

castelnuovo

But did he say "engage"? 

 

Wrong captain!