William Shatner's space launch with Blue Origin has taken Twitter by storm

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: Follow William Shatner's Blue Origin launch here
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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Of course, somebody had to mention that rocket shape: comedian and Emmy winner Tom Bergeron of "Hollywood Squares" and "American's Funniest Home Videos."

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.  

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Elizabeth Howell
Former Staff Writer, Spaceflight (July 2022-November 2024)

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., was a staff writer in the spaceflight channel between 2022 and 2024 specializing in Canadian space news. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years from 2012 to 2024. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House, leading world coverage about a lost-and-found space tomato on the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?" (ECW Press, 2022) is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams.