As William Shatner embarks on a real-life space voyage next week, the “Star Trek” star’s upcoming mission created a lot of buzz on Twitter.
The original Captain Kirk “Star Trek” will launch to suborbital space on a Blue Origin rocket no earlier than Oct. 12. He is the starring member of a four-person crew that  includes a Blue Origin vice-president, the co-founder of Planet Labs and a co-founder of a medical research platform.
Shatner, 90, is a long-time user of Twitter (he’s @WilliamShatner) and had comedic responses to several celebrity tweets. For example, the actor-comedian told former NASA astronaut Clay Anderson he won’t have the ability to tweet from Blue Origin’s New Shepard capsule (which is much smaller than the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise Shatner he helmed in fiction, as Captain James T. Kirk.)
Live updates:Â Follow William Shatner’s Blue Origin launch here
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😳Dial up‽ 😖 🤔What baud rate? 😉 https://t.co/sYp1B7CPKAOctober 5, 2021
The conversation also included pictures of another “Star Trek” captain, Jean-Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart) and Anderson flashing the “Live Long and Prosper” symbology from the Vulcan alien race of “Star Trek.” Shatner’s co-star, Leonard Nimoy, played the Vulcan Spock and helped in creating that sign.
🤔 Snack bars in Space? How is cell service? 😳🤷🏼♂️🤣 https://t.co/3Kv1lLRSrvOctober 5, 2021
Comedian Stephen Colbert pointed out space may not be as fun as Shatner imagined.
More Trek lore jokes came from “The Big Bang Theory” co-creator Bill Prady, but Shatner delved even deeper down that hole with a comparison of Romulans to cats.
🤨The Romulans are pussy cats. Didn’t I Cosplay as one of them and crash their party and steal their liquor?🤔🤷🏼♂️ It was something like that. https://t.co/33OfqkrlHTOctober 5, 2021
Shatner received a weird advertorial for recycling among his congratulations.
We were less surprised to see Priceline, which has run ads featuring Shatner for many years, sending their best wishes.
I’ll be negotiating all the way! 👍🏻🥳 https://t.co/xI84iCRYvsOctober 5, 2021
Senior NASA official Bob Jacobs, recently promoted from his long-time administrator of communications role to deputy associate administrator for media operations and technology, tweeted his support for Shatner, too.
Also in conversation with Shatner were actress Lynda Carter (of “Wonder Woman”), actor Vincent D’Onofrio (“Men in Black” and “Daredevil”), comedian Stephen Fry (of “Blackadder”) and comedian Jason Alexander (of “Seinfeld”), usually including a joke about their respective franchises.
Those who watch comedy regularly will also recall Alexander was the “roastmaster” for a 2006 Comedy Central special featuring Shatner called a “roast”, in which a guest of honor is subjected to embarrassing jokes and commentary (meant to be taken in fun) from long-time friends and colleagues in the industry.
I have no doubt you will get that invisible plane, Lynda.😉 👍🏻 https://t.co/Bz8merek7oOctober 4, 2021
🤣 It’s never too late to experience new things my friend. Hope you are well. 👍🏻 https://t.co/90mVBUKRxqOctober 4, 2021
The singular, Golden Globe-winning Mia Farrow (a long-time friend of Shatner, judging by how they regularly tweet each other) sent a simple but sweet message.
Mia my dear, thank you so much! ❤️ https://t.co/7cTTqdOQ1NOctober 5, 2021
Of course, somebody had to mention that rocket shape: comedian and Emmy winner Tom Bergeron of “Hollywood Squares” and “American’s Funniest Home Videos.”
One of these days I’m going to have a long talk with that boy….😳🙄 https://t.co/BdTGTCEWgw pic.twitter.com/HMaZg8ULxzOctober 6, 2021
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. Â
