How’s this for a “space history” item: 45 years ago today — September 8, 1966 — the first episode of Star Trek (“The Man Trap”) aired on NBC.
Ten years later, members of the cast gathered in Palmdale, California, for the rollout of the prototype Space Shuttle — named Enterprise in honor of their starship:
(Members of the STAR TREK original series cast with the Space Shuttle pathfinder vehicle Enterprise on September 17, 1976. L-R, Dr. James D. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, DeForest Kelley (Dr. “Bones” McCoy), George Takei (Mr. Sulu), James Doohan (Mr. Scott), Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), Gene Rodenberry (series creator, “The Great Bird of the Galaxy”), unknown NASA guy, and Walter Koenig (Ensign Chekov). NASA image.)
Like so many others, I grew up watching Star Trek in syndication, though I took it a bit further as I studied the blueprints of the Enterprise, the Star Fleet Technical Manual, etc. All of which I still have, of course, and all of which explains at least in part why I am a geek.
For more on Star Trek, see Memory Alpha or the official web page.
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