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NASA Honors William Shatner With Distinguished Public Service Medal
Hugh Pickens DOT Com (2995471) writes "Red Orbit reports that after nearly 50 years of warping across galaxies and saving the universe from a variety of alien threats and celestial disasters, Star Trek's William Shatner was honored with NASA's Distinguished Public Service medal, the highest award bestowed by the agency to non-government personnel. 'William Shatner has been so generous with his time and energy in encouraging students to study science and math, and for inspiring generations of explorers, including many of the astronauts and engineers who are a part of NASA today,' said David Weaver, NASA's associate administrator for the Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 'He's most deserving of this prestigious award.' Past recipients of the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal include astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory director and Voyager project scientist Edward Stone, theoretical physicist and astronomer Lyman Spitzer, and science fiction writer Robert Heinlein. The award is presented to those who 'have personally made a contribution representing substantial progress to the NASA mission. The contribution must be so extraordinary that other forms of recognition would be inadequate.'"
Ive been pretending to have sex with green women for years! WHERES MY MEDAL NASA?!
Star Trek has inspired countless people to explore science.
He wasn't Gene, but Shatner has pretty much always embraced his role in Trek.
Meh. Kids nowadays think everything is solved by an inverting the deflector array and emitting a tachyon pulse. It did more harm that good.
makes us want to escape this planet!
love is just extroverted narcissism
NASA, doing what they do best - issuing press releases.
KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN!
Gorn chicks are hotter.
And scalier.
In my day, we had to reverse the polarity of the signaling array while jettisoning the warp core!
While walking uphill in holographic snow for zero net distance but 16 kilometers worth of grueling exercise!
Then the Vulcan chef gave us a pot with some kind of flesh-eating sunflower that we had to fight and kill ourselves for dinner, using nothing but a double-axis Andorian spork!
no no no you don't invert the deflector array, you modulate the plasma stream input to create a verteron pulse you insensitive clod!
Yeah, well we had to reverse the polarity of the Neutron flow while hiding behind our couches.
Who is John Cabal?
Gorn chicks are hotter.
That kinda depends on whether it's sunny or not.
War.
rewriting history since 2109
He also saved it from the deadly energy draining space amoebas in "The Immunity Syndrome".
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
I don't recall Kirk ever saving the universe. I could be mistaken.....
Of course he did, One piece at a time.
OK, just the parts that mattered (and a few that didn't) then..
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Not to take anything away from Shatner but it was James Doohan (Scotty, for the whippersnappers out there) who inspired a lot of people to become engineers. Shatner was more the alpha-male-chasing-the-girls type.
So a (court drama/western/gangster show/soap opera) set in space inspired people to pursue STEM careers?
So they didn't have to grow up and become shysters?
There were about 3 episodes of the original ST that were actually SF. 3 more then next generation.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
You don't generally piss where you eat.
But someone had to tell 'em.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
...I'm not a trekkie, but I can't forget when mr. Shatner told his fans to get a life http://www.myvideo.de/watch/12... ...yeah yeah...that's probably a humorous parody, but he really "killed" it for a lot of people back then. The no #1 rule of Hollywood is to always cherish your fans, never spit on them. He always told in interviews after that, that trekkies really don't have a life etc. You can find this here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W...
It was funny, because it is so true. The people he inspired are those that excelled in sciences and in school, not people who are so obsessed with belonging to the "community" that they have to go dress up and go to conventions. Bill inspired me to get my degree in Physics. And I also laugh at the so-called-fans who can quote lines from the show, but never understand or even care to understand the science underlying it.
The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican.
He wasn't Gene, but Shatner has pretty much always embraced his role in Trek.
Well, that and TJ Hooker really, really sucked.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Apparently they've never read any of his books. If they had, they'd know that irrelevant of any good he's done in his life, some things you just can't redeem.
War.
Not really... WWII might have gave Werner Von Braun the street cred, but he was big into rocketry long, long before Hitler put him to work at building V-rockets.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
But you know what? Kirk was the captain, so I guess he had to be first; hopefully they recognize Spock before he passes.
Because he's the one that inspired me. Kirk was kinda like dad; he was cool, and I respected him; but I'm never gonna be him.
Spock, I could be. (well if i tried really hard and put down the beer and weed and went back for those advanced math classes and wasn't so damned lazy...)
Seriously, as a kid, it was Spock all the way.
I was born in 69, so I got to watch most 70's sci-fi in second run at dollar theaters.
Double features of Logan's Run and Rollerball. Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green. ...ahhh, paradise :)
Gotta wait till 2024.
Sure, "art reflects life", that's why it's "inspirational", "sad, "funny", or whatever other emotion you care to name. Also "getting a girlfriend" is a primary biological urge, where as "personal interests" are primarily learned behaviours.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
He said, "Never let them Klingon."
Game: Player 'Donald J Trump' now has AI skill level 'experimental'.
I'm sure TNG inspired many to _not_ go into psychotherapy, so it has that going for it. Whether they chose STEM instead is a different story.
Absolutely nothing.
[UID-HeinzIntel]
Never has. There been a. Greater spokesperson for the. Exploration of fictional. Space than. Mr. William. Shatner.
He wasn't Gene, but Shatner has pretty much always embraced his role in Trek.
Well, that and TJ Hooker really, really sucked.
Barbary Coast too.
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
I see, it's because he was in Star Trek. I thought maybe he had done something else in the last 40 years.
And NO he certainly has not always embraced his role in Trek..
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
SPOCK! duh!
I haven't heard of Shatner doing anything besides acting alpha male in TV and some Movies. The creator/writer of Trek deserves far far more credit.
Nimoy, has at least done voice overs for many TV shows that were real science shows over the decades. He also helped keep the movies going (not that the movies were inspirational... but they kept things alive before TNG got started up which may not have happened otherwise.)
Scotty also deserves more than Shatner, for getting people to be engineers. He even has a term named after him which any wise engineer uses ("The Scotty Principle.") But perhaps that keeps NASA away from him (plus he is dead.)
Although Nimoy's blessing on the disgraceful reboot... that shouldn't be overlooked; perhaps that cost him the honor? maybe it should?
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
you where going to dollar theaters between the age of 1 and 10? :) Sadly, I am older.
You where 3 when soylent green came out. You memory is playing tricks... which is normal for a man you age.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Yes. Many people sight Star Trek as a driver for them going into STEM.
It's the imagination, setting, add possibilities that did it, not becasue Warp actual exists.
Whist ST is given WAY to much credit for devices that have come out, it was very inspiring for a generate of kids.
Yes, the only choice is STEM or shyster.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
This. Shatner's performances on TOS were the prime motivator in inspiring me to treat women as commodities to be leered at before banging the shit out of.
why...does an ACTOR ........get ....a NASA award?
I realize you italicized pretty much, but in one of his books, he talks about living out of the back of his truck in the 70s while doing not very good gigs.. IIRC dinner theater and such... being annoyed by Trek.
I saw them in reprisals at artsy dollar theaters - not first run.
Perhaps "second run" wasn't the perfect choice -- but I don't know a lot about how movie re-releases worked in the early 80's.
In the late 70's and VERY early 80's, summer movie passes for KIDS were the rage, parents would drop you off for 3 hours to see G-rated films and get the hell out of their hair. Of those, I still remember the sci-fi and sci-fi adjactent films. Escape to Witch Mountain -- heck, even The Cat from Outer Space.
Fortunately, those who did use him as an inspiration to get a life/career were also well adjusted enough to have a good laugh.
"Old man yells at systemd"
Pffft. Amateurs.
You do the following:
1. Climb into a Jefferies tube;
2. Run a level-two diagnostic;
3. Bypass the power-flow converters;
4. Realign the sensor array;
5. Do all of the above before the next commercial break, and then notify the Captain you're ready for Warp 9.
Now, the next time you walk into a meeting with a bunch of MBAs sitting at the table, staring at you and your STEM degree, hit them with the above.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alternative_Factor
Mod parent informative. If that's not saving the universe, what is?
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
...until Sanchez has to go into the game...
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
War...
Another consultant who stuck it out.
"We are the Priests, of the Temples of Syrinx..."
Without Shatner, no Space Teens
I'm glad something as stupid as a spork isn't an exclusively human invention...
For me, the creator of the show is the one who was inspiring, though unseen. But Shatner did a lot more than just act in the show, and that is probably a lot more important for this award than just his years on Star Trek.
Does anyone know if Roddenberry also pushed kids to study science? Star trek still inspires me to what is possible, and it's more than just technology. The society he envisioned is also something to work towards.
...I'm not a trekkie, but I can't forget when mr. Shatner told his fans to get a life http://www.myvideo.de/watch/12... ...yeah yeah...that's probably a humorous parody
Probably? Come on, that skit was from Saturday Night Live.
Who, AFAIK and comparing their biographies, did far more for NASA recruitment?
There was a time NASA had better things to do than be concerned about the Social issues and Entertainment industry (and their actors).
Bread and circuses. Your tax dollars at work.
(And of course you all agree do to all humorous comments hitherto.)
Tracy Johnson
Old fashioned text games hosted below:
http://empire.openmpe.com/
BT
why can't we be friends?
I have never heard his name in anything but an ST reference.
I think Stephen Hawking said he was inspired to study theoretical physics after hearing Shatner's version of Rocket Man.