"Next Star Trek Actor to Go Into Space?" Topic

Which living actor from the Star Trek franchise should be the next one launched into space (and returned safely)?

Sulu George Takei

The question is will they get a free ride like Shatner got. Georgi Takei and/or Patrick Stewart would be high on my list. Who says it has to be only one at a time?

Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway)?

Shatner, maybe he can pay to go again?

Better question which Star Trek character would you like to see launched into space and not returned?

Surely it's the other franchise's turn next?

Use the force, Luke.

"Better question which Star Trek character would you like to see launched into space and not returned?"

Thats an easy one – Wesley Crusher (Character only not the actor)

For me the no return option is Q

None of them, Prince William says NO!.

Remember that James Doohan's ashes were smuggled up there a few years back, so Mr. Shatner is second.

As for which, that depends on why.

If it's just a publicity thing, then you want Stewart or Takei unless you want Gates McFadden or Kate Mulgrew. But I don't find the publicity angle interesting.

If you want someone as an ambassador, Wil Wheaton has a big following and does some writing. He also belongs to the generation you probably want to influence, so he's the obvious, obvious choice.

What about Uhura (Nichelle Nichols)? I believe she worked with NASA for many years.

Grelber

What about Uhura (Nichelle Nichols)? I believe she worked with NASA for many years.

She's suffering from dementia these days, sadly.

Send up a red shirt.

I'd have gone with Patrick Stewart right up until you said "returned safely."

I found Shatner's trip inspiring. It's also not an insignificant point in the current development of space travel. Up until very recently, the expense of space travel was far too great, far too complicated and far too dangerous to send anyone but highly trained personnel. The few "stunt" attempts proved disastrous, and were still paid for solely by taxpayers because the individual price was far too high. William Shatner's trip may have indeed been brilliant PR designed to attract media attention (which says more about the media and the people than Shatner or Blue Origin), but the fact that it was seen as a viable expense for an intangible reward is no small matter. In other words, the cost of space travel has plummeted down to where an individual company can do a space launch solely for PR purposes and see the expense as "ordinary."
To label William Shatner as a "space tourist" is indeed accurate— but that should not be a pejorative. This is exactly how the airlines got their start. In the early history of aviation, passengers were largely a stunt, then a PR move… and then a viable, fast, and safe form of transportation not only for tourism but for business and industry.
We can fly across the country for under $100 USD and nobody sees that as amazing (even though it is)— air travel is a commonplace now. But it had to start with stunts and then "big names" or "big pockets" making trips— and once that happened, more and more people realized "I could do that, too."
In that sense, Shatner is a ground-breaker, at least in an emotional sense. He's known to be wealthy— he's a successful actor— but he's not generally thought of as a billionaire (I doubt he is one). And it's no small deal that he's 90, either— if a 90 year old can safely fly into space, then a 40 year old can too, and a 50 and a 60 and so on. So we have a person who is more or less a household name demonstrating an action already associated with him at least in popular imagination (and who knows how many he inspired to pursue space sciences and rocket development as careers). They tune in, they watch, they think "I could do that, too."
And the barriers to and expense of space flight come tumbling down.

Plus, frankly, I think he rather earned it.

(And I'm not impressed with George Takei. What an ungrateful, spiteful jerk. He can stay home and whine.)

Agreed. Shatner can be glib and charming … when he wants to.

And Anderson Cooper was a gushing fanboy interviewing Shatner. He channeled Walter Cronkite in that.
Shatner was a perfect player, who played his role well.

And Takei is indeed a bitter little man.