star trek international space station

The ashes of James Doohan — Scotty from Star Trek — are aboard the International Space Station

Until now, only a handful of people knew that doohan’s ashes got on the iss in 2008.

By Kim Lyons

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The ashes of the late James Doohan, who played chief engineer Montgomery Scott on the original Star Trek television series, have been aboard the International Space Station for 12 years — and the Times of London has the fascinating backstory of how it happened. Doohan died in 2005 at the age of 85, and his family wanted to fulfill his wish of getting on the ISS.

Official requests to bring Doohan’s ashes on the ISS were denied, but Richard Garriott — one of the first private citizens to travel on the space station — managed to smuggle some of Doohan’s ashes into the space station’s Columbus module. Garriott says he took a laminated picture of Doohan and some of his ashes and put it under the floor of the Columbus. He didn’t tell anyone about the scheme — only he and Doohan’s family knew until now.

“It was completely clandestine,” Garriott told the Times . “His family were very pleased that the ashes made it up there but we were all disappointed we didn’t get to talk about it publicly for so long. Now enough time has passed that we can.”

It’s not the first time Doohan’s ashes have made into the heavens. A portion of his ashes were aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, but that rocket failed minutes after launch. And in 2012, an urn with some of Doohan’s ashes flew into space aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9. According to the Times , Doohan’s ashes have traveled some 1.7 billion miles across space, and have orbited the Earth more than 70,000 times.

Doohan’s son Chris thanked Garriott for smuggling his late father’s ashes aboard the ISS. “What he did was touching — it meant so much to me, so much to my family and it would have meant so much to my dad,” he said.

Years after his death, Scotty is still boldly going... well, you know the rest.

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International Space Station

The ISS represented one of humanity's first international efforts to explore space - with NASA ( United States of America ), the Russian Federal Space Agency ( Russia ), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( Japan ), the Canadian Space Agency ( Canada ), and the European Space Agency all participating in the project.

The first module of the space station was put into orbit in November 1998 . Construction was delayed by the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia . However construction resumed, and during the 21st century the space station was expanded considerably. ( Star Trek: Enterprise credits sequence)

Shortly after the founding of Starfleet in the early 21st Century, Voula and the Core beamed aboard the ISS as a waypoint, before beaming over to a Romulan ship further out in the Solar System. ( ST performance: Star Trek Live )

The ISS was one of a number of images presented to Jonathan Archer after he and the crew of the Enterprise (NX-01) repaired the damage to the timeline. ( ENT episode : " Storm Front, Part II ")

Images of the ISS were among the USS Enterprise computer files accessed by the Talosians in 2254 . ( TOS episode : " The Cage ")

Benjamin Sisko had a model of the ISS in his office aboard Deep Space 9 . ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine set decoration, ST reference : The Star Trek Encyclopedia )

Connections [ ]

• International Space Station article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• International Space Station article at Wikipedia , the free encyclopedia.
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'Among the stars': Ashes of James Doohan, Scotty from 'Star Trek,' hidden on International Space Station

Actor James Doohan's family is celebrating after keeping a major secret for the past 12 years.

The late Doohan, who famously portrayed chief engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott on the original TV series "Star Trek," had his ashes smuggled aboard the International Space Station, where they fittingly float in space today.

"I have been keeping a secret for over 12 years," Chris Doohan, one of the sons of the "Star Trek" actor wrote on Twitter, adding a link to a Dec. 25 article from the Times of London that revealed the secret. The Starship Enterprise engineer has travelled nearly 1.7 billion miles through space, orbiting Earth more than 70,000 times, after his ashes were hidden secretly on the ISS.

Doohan died in 2005 at age 85 and always had dreamed in resting among the stars. 

"My dad had three passions: space, science and trains. He always wanted to go into space," Chris Doohan told the Times.

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Richard Garriott, an entrepreneur and one of the first private citizens in space, says he smuggled James Doohan’s ashes onto the ISS in 2008 during a 12-day mission as a private astronaut in a plot concocted by Chris Doohan.

The caper entailed printing three cards with a Doohan photograph and laminating each with a sprinkling of ashes sealed inside hidden inside his flight data file. 

"Everything that officially goes on board is logged, inspected and bagged — there’s a process, but there was no time to put it through that process," Garriott told the Times.

One of the three cards is framed on a wall in Doohan’s California home, which Doohan tweeted Saturday.

Garriott floated another into space. The third is under the cladding on the floor of the space station’s Columbus module, where he hid it in 2008.

"As far as I know, no one has ever seen it there and no one has moved it," Garriott said. "James Doohan got his resting place among the stars."

Chris Doohan, an actor who played Scotty in the web series "Star Trek Continues," tells USA TODAY over e-mail that he is thrilled to finally tell the story.

“I never knew when or if I would be able to ever say anything," he said. "I visit fan conventions all around the world, for years now, and I have been holding on to this secret for 12 years. It was hard not sharing this with fans. I now have a great sense of relief that I can talk about this and share this amazing story as I continue my father's legacy.”

NASA declined to comment on the story, since Garriott was a Space Flight Participant with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.

A NASA statement to USA TODAY did address the wide interest in the story of Doohan's ashes. "NASA has a long cultural connection with 'Star Trek' and can appreciate the interest fans around the world have in this story."

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James Doohan, ‘Scotty’ From ‘Star Trek’, Had Ashes Taken To International Space Station

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Star Trek ‘s James Doohan made it to the final frontier. A new interview has revealed an astronaut took Doohan’s ashes with him when he visited the International Space Station.

Doohan, who played chief engineer Montgomery Scott on the show and who ignited the signature phrase “Beam me up, Scotty,” was forever being asked to push the Enterprise engines beyond their limits. But he finally made it into space in 2008. He died at age 85 in 2005.

Entrepreneur Richard Garriott, 59, smuggled Doohan’s ashes onto the ISS in 2008 during a 12-day mission as a private astronaut. He was backed by Doohan’s son, Chris, who said his father’s wish was to make it to the ISS. The request was denied for two other trips, resulting in Garriott having to undertake clandestine means to get the ashes on board.

Garriott took a card with Doohan’s picture and some of his ashes, which were laminated and tucked under cladding on the floor of the space station’s Columbus module.

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Were Ashes of 'Star Trek' Star Smuggled onto Space Station?

The man who played montgomery “scotty” scott on the hit sci-fi series may have made it to space after all., nur ibrahim, published dec. 29, 2020.

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Someone may have finally managed to beam up Scotty. In December 2020, a private astronaut said in an interview with The (London) Times that he smuggled the ashes of "Star Trek" actor James Doohan aboard the International Space Station. Richard Garriott, an adventurer, was going on a 12-day mission as a private astronaut aboard the space station in 2008 when he said Doohan’s family reached out to him with an unusual request.

The late actor, known for his role as the chief engineer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise in the hit television series, loved space and wanted to be laid to rest among the stars. His son, Chris Doohan, contacted Garriott when he was days away from launching. The effort was “completely clandestine,” according to Garriott, who had not received permission from the station to bring these ashes aboard. He said he printed and laminated three cards with a photograph of Doohan in front and with a sprinkling of ashes sealed inside, tucked them in his flight data file, and carried them onboard. The file had clearance to fly but the cards with the ashes did not.

Doohan’s family and Garriott did not talk about it until 2020 because of concerns that it could cause trouble with Russian and U.S. space agencies. Garriott said , “The concern afterwards was that it could disrupt relations because I didn’t have permission [...] so in an abundance of caution I was asked to tell the family, ‘Let’s not make a big deal out of it publicly’.”

Chris Doohan also confirmed this story: “Richard said, ‘We’ve got to keep this hush hush for a little while’ and here we are 12 years later. What he did was touching — it meant so much to me, so much to my family and it would have meant so much to my dad.”

The three cards reportedly found their way into different places. One was framed on a wall in a Doohan family home. A second was floated into space by Garriott and likely burnt up in Earth’s atmosphere. The third was hidden under the cladding of the floor of the space station’s Columbus module. Garriott claimed that as far as he knew, no one had moved it or spotted it there. The Times article includes a video of Garriott purportedly taken inside the space station where he was holding up and tossing one of the cards. The card floated in the gravity-free area where Garriott was sitting before he grabbed it again.

Chris Doohan shared the card that Garriott brought back from the station:

The International Space Station has not verified this story, nor has Snopes been able to independently corroborate the information. We also reached out to the Russian space agency Roscosmos and the European Space Agency, and we will update this post if we get new information.

Given that we know the version of this story from Garriott and Doohan’s son, have not confirmed with the space station, nor corroborated the story ourselves, we rate this claim as a “Unproven.”

By Nur Ibrahim

Nur Nasreen Ibrahim is a reporter with experience working in television, international news coverage, fact checking, and creative writing.

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Ashes Of Star Trek’s James Doohan Were Smuggled Onto The International Space Station

| December 26, 2020 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 18 comments so far

James Doohan, Star Trek’s Montgomery “Scotty Scott, had one final trip into space, three years after he passed away in 2005. On Christmas, the story of a clandestine plan to bring some of the actor’s ashes to the International Space Station was finally revealed.

Doohan made it to the final frontier

On Christmas Day, the UK’s The Times revealed that in 2008 entrepreneur Richard Garriott smuggled some of Doohan’s ashes to the ISS on his 12-day mission as a private astronaut. The clandestine operation was planned along with Doohan’s son Chris, with the approval of the Doohan family.

The plan had Garriott hiding a laminated card with Doohan’s photo and some of his ashes under cladding of the floor of the station’s Columbus module. According to The Times, Doohan’s ashes have “traveled nearly 1.7 billion miles through space, orbiting Earth more than 70,000 times, after his ashes were hidden secretly on the International Space Station.”

Doohan’s ashes were sealed inside a laminate card and hidden under cladding on the International Space Station (The Times)

“It was completely clandestine… His family were very pleased that the ashes made it up there but we were all disappointed we didn’t get to talk about it publicly for so long. Now enough time has passed that we can,” Garriott tells The Times. “As far as I know, no one has ever seen it there and no one has moved it. James Doohan got his resting place among the stars.”

James Doohan in his final appearance as Scotty in the 1994 film Star Trek: Generations

Garriott’s 2008 ISS smuggling operation was actually the third attempt to bring James Doohan’s ashes into space. In 2007, some of his ashes flew on a suborbital rocket, and in August 2008 there was a failed attempt aboard a SpaceX rocket (the company successfully launched some of Doohan’s ashes into space in 2012). Wanting to fulfill his father’s request to be laid to rest in space, Chris Doohan reached out to Garriott shortly before he was set to launch into space in October 2008.

Because the last-minute request came after everything Garriott had planned to bring on the trip had already been logged, there was a concern about adding the ashes, so it was decided “in an abundance of caution” that the plan would be kept secret. “Richard said ‘We’ve got to keep this hush hush for a little while’ and here we are 12 years later. What he did was touching—it meant so much to me, so much to my family and it would have meant so much to my dad,” Chris Doohan told The Times.

Soyuz rocket launches Richard Garriott (with Doohan’s ashes) to the ISS on October 12, 2008 (Getty)

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This is w i l d. But hey, cool!

It is actually Garriott with two Ts. His father, by the way was astronaut Owen Garriott who flew aboard Skylab in 1973.

This makes me very happy. I met you once Jimmy, you were a gem. The word is given, warp speed. Rest in Peace. And thank you for your service in WWII.

He was in World War 2. Thank you for his service to America. Veterans deserve the most utmost respect.

His service was to Canada, as he was Canadian.

Very true Silvereyes.

Although as a member of the Canadian forces in WW2, one can argue that his service was for more than Canada.

I once saw Doohan speak at a regional CreationCon, and it sounded like his own real-life military service may have set him apart from the rest of the acting ensemble.

Although from his military record, it also sounds as though he was a risk taker and a daredevil, he seemed that didn’t have much patience for the pranks and high spirits Shatner and Given got into to blow off steam during long shooting days.

Doohan served as an officer in both the Royal Canadian Artillery and the Royal Canadian Airborne (as an Artillery Observation Officer). He landed at Juno Beach in Normandy on D-Day.

Canadian, Mr. Ninja. He was actually on Normandy for the D Day landings, when he was shot in the hand. Look up how he navigated a career in Hollywood, not having the injured hand photographed. Its an interesting bit of trivia.

If you carefully watch the scene on the bridge in “Star Trek V” where Uhura brings the food packets, you can see his missing finger (or, rather, where his missing finger should be).

This is all sorts of awesome.

Just the fact that it was clandestine is in keeping with Scotty’s character, and he didn’t have to drink anyone under the table to do it. :-)

Lucky for him!

The International Space Station is a beautiful work of human ingenuity

I miss all the people we have lost over the years in the Star Trek family so this is an excellent way to honor one of the best of the bunch. He has truly gone where no one has gone before and part of him will always be there.

How was this clandestine? I heard about this happening when it happened.

I thought I remembered hearing about it too, but apparently that was separate set of ashes launched on a private SpaceX rocket (along with about 300 other people’s ashes). Those orbited the earth for about a year before crashing back down.

https://www.space.com/15810-scotty-ashes-spacex-rocket-launch.html

That’s the story I recall…. his being launched into orbit, but not snuck aboard the space station.

not YET I mean

This is truely fantastic.

That’s awesome!

Whatever the failings on his part; He was a starship engineer with all of his heart…

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The ashes of James Doohan — Scotty from ‘Star Trek’ — have secretly been aboard the International Space Station for over 12 years

According to doohan’s son, the late actor had “always wanted to go into space.”.

By Nate Schwartz

Space, the final frontier, is also the final resting place for the actor who played one of the most beloved characters from “Star Trek.”

After 12 years of secrecy, James Doohan’s family revealed that some of the late actor’s ashes are resting inside the International Space Station .

Doohan, who famously played Scotty in the original “Star Trek” series, had always wanted to visit space. So with the help of Richard Garriott, a private citizen who visited the ISS in 2008, the actor’s remains have been orbiting Earth for over a decade now.

Garriott says he smuggled a laminated picture of Doohan that was sprinkled with the actor’s ashes aboard the space station and placed the photo under the floor in the station’s Columbus module . According to USA Today , Garriott didn’t tell anyone about the scheme, only he and Doohan’s family knew about it until recently.

“It was completely clandestine,” Garriott told the Times of London (via The Verge ), “As far as I know, no one has ever seen it there and no one has moved it.”

In an interview with the Times , the actor’s son, Chris Doohan , expressed gratitude for Garriott’s actions. “What he did was touching — it meant so much to me, so much to my family and it would have meant so much to my dad,” he said.

Days before the Times article published the 12-year-old secret, Chris Doohan teased the story with a tweet . “I have been keeping a secret for over 12 years,” he wrote. “Finally...I can tell everyone soon.”

I have been keeping a secret for over 12 years. Finally, I’ve been told that I can tell everyone soon. Stay tuned. #startrek — Chris Doohan (@ChrisDoohan) December 19, 2020

According to The Verge , Doohan’s ashes have been launched into space two other times, once in 2008 aboard a failed SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket mission, and once more in 2012 aboard Space X’s Falcon 9 mission.

USA Today states that Doohan’s remains in the International Space Station have traveled more than 1.7 billion miles in space and have orbited the Earth over 70,000 times.

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The Final Frontier: Star Trek and the ISS

May 20, 2013

The Star Trek universe of television shows, movies, games, and books has captivated generations with its stories illustrating how people can bring out the best in their selves through the challenge of space exploration.  Gene Roddenberry believed that humanity (and like-minded species) would one day unite behind a common cause and purpose – equality of opportunity and liberty for all under the rule of law, unbounded by poverty, starvation, or physical need.  This was the core of his United Federation of Planets.

The latest movie in the “reimagined” series, Star Trek Into Darkness, was released this week to much acclaim.  Though the J.J. Abrams’ Federation is in some ways less a utopia than in Roddenberry’s original vision, it still serves as an important vessel for commentary on our times and the good that is possible when we rise to the challenges set before us.  The engine room scenes were actually filmed in one of our sister institutions – the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory – because Abrams was moved by the scientists and engineers working to change the world by making fusion energy possible.  Many of those same researchers were inspired to science careers because they watched Star Trek while growing up!

The International Space Station itself provides a key step towards building the future that Roddenberry envisioned.  It is humanity’s outpost in space where we – as a multinational team of equals – are learning how to keep people safe, happy, and healthy for extended durations away from Earth, developing new exploration technologies, answering basic questions about the nature of the universe, and creating opportunities for private industry to bring the resources of the Solar System into our economic system.

While the USS Enterprise ’s warp drive and fusion reactors are many years away, if even possible, the ISS is where we have first learned to build large structures in space.  That knowledge will certainly be applied to the first vehicles that travel between the planets without ever touching down on a surface – the true progenitors of the Enterprise herself.  The Enterprise ’s “impulse thrusters” are fusion rockets that the University of Washington is trying to develop through a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts grant.  We may yet see the first of these assembled at and tested from the ISS.

Star Trek also envisions a future where people live and work in space for their entire lives and space-based resources eliminate the need for ecologically-damaging industrial processes.  The ISS National Laboratory will bring us closer to such a way of life by serving as a platform for commercial technology development and industrial microgravity research, such as the the ISS National Lab-sponsored protein crystal growth projects flying to the Station later this year and development grants for new radiation-tolerant computer systems and advanced solar panels.

Space truly is “the final frontier” and its exploration portends the future of our civilization.  The International Space Station serves as our foothold towards that future.

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55 Years Ago: Star Trek Final Episode Airs, Relationship with NASA Endures

Johnson space center.

The voyages of the Starship Enterprise came to a sudden and premature end on June 3, 1969, with the airing of the final episode of the Star Trek original television series. Ironically, the show’s cancellation came just six weeks before humanity embarked on its first voyage to land on another celestial body. Although the show ran for only three seasons, it generated a devoted fan base disappointed by the cancellation despite their write-in campaign to keep it on the air. But as things turned out, over the decades Star Trek evolved into a global phenomenon, first with the original episodes replayed in syndication, followed by a series of full-length motion pictures, and eventually a multitude of spin-off series. With its primary focus on space exploration, along with themes of diversity, inclusion, and innovation, the Star Trek fictional universe formed a natural association with NASA’s real life activities.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry first had the idea for a science fiction television series in 1964. He presented his idea, a show set in the 23 rd century aboard a starship with a crew dedicated to exploring the galaxy, to Desilu Productions, an independent television production company headed by Lucille Ball. They produced a pilot titled “The Cage,” selling it to the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) network that then bought a second pilot titled “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” NBC introduced the show to its fall 1966 lineup, with the first episode “The Man Trap” airing on Sep. 8. To put that date in perspective, NASA launched Gemini XI four days later, one of the missions that helped the agency achieve the Moon landing nearly three years later. Meanwhile, Star Trek’s Starship Enterprise continued its fictional five-year mission through the galaxy to “seek out new life and new civilizations.” The makeup of the Enterprise’s crew made the show particularly attractive to late 1960s television audiences. The major characters included an African American woman communications officer, an Asian American helmsman, and a half-human half-Vulcan science officer, later joined by a Russian-born ensign. While the show enjoyed good ratings during its first two seasons, cuts to its production budget resulted in lower quality episodes during its third season leading to lower ratings and, despite a concerted letter-writing campaign from its dedicated fans, eventual cancellation.

Despite the show’s cancellation, Star Trek lived on and prospered in syndication and attracted an ever-growing fan base, turning into a worldwide sensation. Often dubbed “trekkies,” these fans held the first of many Star Trek conventions in 1972. When in 1976 NASA announced that it would name its first space shuttle orbiter Constitution, in honor of its unveiling on the anniversary of the U. S. Constitution’s ratification, trekkies engaged in a dedicated letter writing campaign to have the orbiter named Enterprise, after the starship in the television series. This time the fans’ letter writing campaign succeeded. President Gerald R. Ford agreed with the trekkies and directed NASA to rechristen the first space shuttle. When on Sept. 17, 1976 , it rolled out of its manufacturing plant in Palmdale, California, appropriately accompanied by a band playing the show’s theme song, it bore the name Enterprise. Many of the original cast members of the show as well as its creator Rodenberry participated in the rollout ceremony, hosted by NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher . Thus began a lengthy relationship between the space agency and the Star Trek brand.

During the development of the space shuttle in the 1970s, the need arose to recruit a new group of astronauts to fly the vehicle, deploy the satellites, and perform the science experiments. When NASA released the call for the new astronaut selection on July 8, 1976, it specifically encouraged women and minorities to apply. To encourage those applicants, NASA chose Nichelle Nichols, who played communications officer Lt. Uhura on the Starship Enterprise, to record a recruiting video and speak to audiences nationwide. She came to NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston in March 1977, and accompanied by Apollo 12 and Skylab 3 astronaut Alan L. Bean , toured the center and filmed scenes for the video in Mission Control and other facilities. NASA hoped that her stature and popularity would encourage women and minorities to apply, and indeed they did. In January 1978, when NASA announced the selection of 35 new astronauts from more than 8,000 applicants, for the first time the astronaut class included women and minorities. All distinguished themselves as NASA astronauts and paved the way for others in subsequent astronaut selections. Nichols returned to JSC in September 2010 with the Traveling Space Museum, an organization that partners with schools to promote space studies. She toured Mission Control and the International Space Station trainer accompanied by NASA astronaut B. Alvin Drew . She also flew aboard NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) airborne telescope aircraft managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, in September 2015.

Meanwhile, the Star Trek brand renewed itself in 1979 as a full-length motion picture with the original TV series cast members reprising their roles. Over the years, several sequels followed this first film. And on the small screen, a reboot of sorts occurred in 1987 with the premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation, a new series set in the 24 th century aboard the Enterprise-D, a next generation starship with a new crew. That series lasted seven seasons, followed by a near-bewildering array of spin-off series, all built on the Star Trek brand, that continue to this day.

James Doohan, the actor who played Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, the Starship Enterprise’s chief engineer, had early associations with NASA. In April 1967, Doohan visited NASA’s Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center in California, spending time with NASA test pilot Bruce A. Peterson. A month later, Peterson barely survived a horrific crash of the experimental M2-F2 lifting body aircraft. He inspired the 1970s TV series The Six-Million Dollar Man, and the show’s opening credits include film of the crash. Doohan narrated a documentary film about the space shuttle released shortly before Columbia made its first flight in April 1981. In January 1991, Doohan visited JSC and with NASA astronaut Mario Runco (who sometimes went by the nickname “Spock”) toured the shuttle trainers, Mission Control, and tried his hand at operating the shuttle’s robotic arm in the Manipulator Development Facility. In a unique tribute, astronaut Neil A. Armstrong , the first person to step on the lunar surface , spoke at Doohan’s retirement in 2004, addressing him as “one old engineer to another.”

George Takei, who played Enterprise helmsman Lt. Hikaru Sulu, and his husband Brad, visited JSC in May 2012. Invited by both Asian American and LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Groups, Takei spoke of leadership and inclusiveness, including overcoming challenges while in Japanese American internment camps during World War II and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. He noted that Star Trek remained ahead of its time in creating a future when all members of society could equally participate in great undertakings, at a time when the country struggled through the Civil Rights movement and the conflict in Southeast Asia. The inclusiveness that is part of NASA’s culture greatly inspired him. JSC Director Michael L. Coats presented Takei with a plaque including a U.S. flag flown aboard space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-135 mission. He also visited Mission Control and spent some time with Robonaut.

Leonard Nimoy played the science officer aboard the Starship Enterprise, the half-human, half-Vulcan Mr. Spock. The actor watched in September 2012 when space shuttle Enterprise arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, on the last leg of its journey to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where it currently resides. “This is a reunion for me,” observed Nimoy. “Thirty-five years ago, I met the Enterprise for the first time.” As noted earlier, the Star Trek cast attended the first space shuttle’s rollout in 1976. Following his death in 2015, European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti paid tribute to Nimoy aboard the International Space Station by wearing a Star Trek science officer uniform, giving the Vulcan greeting, and proclaiming, “Of all the souls I have encountered … his was the most human.”

Captain James T. Kirk, played by actor William Shatner, a life-long advocate of science and space exploration, served at the helm of the Starship Enterprise. His relationship with NASA began during the original series, with references to the space agency incorporated into several story lines. In 2011, Shatner hosted and narrated a NASA documentary celebrating the 30 th anniversary of the Space Shuttle program , and gave his time and voice to other NASA documentaries. NASA recognized Shatner’s contributions in 2014 with a Distinguished Public Service Medal , the highest award NASA bestows on non-government individuals. NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Communications Robert “Bob” N. Jacobs presented the medal to Shatner. The award’s citation read, “For outstanding generosity and dedication to inspiring new generations of explorers around the world, and for unwavering support for NASA and its missions of discovery.” In 2019, Shatner narrated the NASA video We Are Going , about NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the Moon. He has spoken at numerous NASA-themed events and moderated panels about NASA’s future plans. On Oct. 13, 2021, at the age of 90, Shatner reached the edge of space during the NS-18 suborbital flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle, experiencing three minutes of weightlessness.

Elements of the Star Trek universe have made their way not only into popular culture but also into NASA culture. As noted above, Star Trek fans had a hand in naming the first space shuttle Enterprise. NASA’s Earth observation facility aboard the space station that makes use of its optical quality window bears the name the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF). The connection between that acronym and the name of a Klingon officer aboard the Enterprise in the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series seemed like an opportunity not to be missed – the facility’s official patch bears its name in English and in Klingon. Several astronaut crews have embraced Star Trek themes for their unofficial photographs. The STS-54 crew dressed in the uniforms of Starship Enterprise officers from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, the second full-length feature motion picture of the series. Space shuttle and space station crews created Space Flight Awareness (SFA) posters for their missions, and more than one embraced Star Trek themes. The Expedition 21 crew dressed in uniforms from the original series, while the STS-134 crew chose as their motif the 2009 reboot motion picture Star Trek.

As much as Star Trek has influenced NASA, in turn the agency has left its mark on the franchise, from episodes referencing actual and future spaceflight events to NASA astronauts making cameo appearances on the show. The first-season episode “Court Martial” that aired in February 1967 featured a photograph of the December 1965 Gemini VI launch adorning a wall aboard a star base. In the second-season episode “Return to Tomorrow,” airing in February 1968, Captain Kirk in a dialogue about risk-taking remarks, “Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn’t reached the Moon?” a prescient reference to the first Apollo mission to reach the Moon more than 10 months after the episode aired. Astronaut Mae C. Jemison , who credits Nichelle Nichols as her inspiration to become an astronaut, appeared in the 1993 episode “Second Chances” of Star Trek: The Next Generation , eight months after her actual spaceflight aboard space shuttle Endeavour. In May 2005, two other NASA astronauts, Terry W. Virts and E. Michael Fincke , appeared in “These are the Voyages…,” the final episode of the series Star Trek: Enterprise.

In the 2016 documentary “ NASA on the Edge of Forever: Science in Space ,” host NASA astronaut Victor J. Glover states, “Science and Star Trek go hand-in-hand.” The film explores how for 50 years, Star Trek influenced scientists, engineers, and even astronauts to reach beyond their potential. While the space station doesn’t speed through the galaxy like the Starship Enterprise, much of the research conducted aboard the orbiting facility can make the fiction of Star Trek come a little closer to reality. Several of the cast members from the original TV series share their viewpoints in the documentary, along with those of NASA managers and scientists. Over the years, NASA has created several videos highlighting the relationship between the agency and the Star Trek franchise. In 2016, NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden led a video tribute to celebrate the 50 th anniversary of the first Star Trek episode.

In 2021, on the 100 th anniversary of Gene Roddenberry’s birth, his son Rod hosted a virtual panel discussion , introduced by NASA Administrator C. William “Bill” Nelson , about diversity and inspiration, two ideals the Star Trek creator infused into the series. Panelists included Star Trek actor Takei, Tracy D. Drain, flight systems engineer for the Europa Clipper spacecraft at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, NASA astronaut Jonny Kim , Swati Mohan, guidance and operations lead for the Mars 2020 rover at JPL, and Hortense B. Diggs, Director of the Office of Communication and Public Engagement at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The mutual attraction between NASA and Star Trek stems from, to paraphrase the opening voiceover from the TV series, that both seek to explore and discover new worlds, and to boldly go where no one has gone before. The diversity, inclusion, and inspiration involved in these endeavors ensure that they will live long and prosper.

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How the ashes of Star Trek's Scotty were secretly smuggled onto the International Space Station

Paramount Pictures

After years of playing spacefaring engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott on various iterations of   Star Trek , actor James Doohan had a wish upon his death: That his ashes would  one day go to space . In 2007, two years after the actor's death, he almost got his wish when a portion of his remains flew on a suborbital rocket. In 2008 another portion of ashes was supposed to enter orbit over the Earth, but the rocket that was carrying them failed, and that was seemingly the end of Doohan's real-life space saga. 

Unless, of course, you're one of the handful of people who knew that Doohan's ashes have been orbiting the Earth onboard the International Space Station for the last 12 years. 

Over the Christmas holiday, the Times of London ran the unlikely story of how Doohan's ashes wound up on the ISS, courtesy of his son Chris and legendary  Ultima  game designer Richard Garriott. According to Garriott, who flew a private mission to the ISS in 2008, the story was a very "clandestine" affair due to spaceflight procedures and policies, but now than more than a decade has passed with Doohan's ashes spinning around the Earth, he and Chris Doohan felt comfortable sharing how it all happened. 

“His family were very pleased that the ashes made it up there but we were all disappointed we didn’t get to talk about it publicly for so long. Now enough time has passed that we can,” Garriott said.

According to Garriott, it all started when Chris Doohan called him with just days to go before his launch aboard a Soyuz capsule bound for the ISS in 2008. The game designer and adventurer was eager to fulfill the request of the science fiction legend's family, but there was an issue: All of Garriott's flight gear had to be logged and cleared by the Soyuz launch team prior to liftoff, and the ashes weren't among the cleared cargo. To make things as covert as possible, Garriott hid Doohan's ashes in a trio of laminated cards bearing the actor's name and picture, which he then tucked into his approved flight data file. 

“Everything that officially goes on board is logged, inspected and bagged — there’s a process, but there was no time to put it through that process,” Garriott said. 

“The concern afterwards was that it could disrupt relations because I didn’t have permission . . . so in an abundance of caution I was asked to tell the family ‘Let’s not make a big deal out of it publicly’.”

Garriott kept one of the cards and gave it to Chris Doohan, who now keeps it on the wall of his home. The game designer floated a second card out into the vacuum of space itself, and hid the third under the floor of the Columbus module aboard the International Space Station. As far as Garriott knows, it remains there to this day, orbiting the Earth, honoring Doohan's wish. 

“Richard said ‘We’ve got to keep this hush hush for a little while’ and here we are 12 years later. What he did was touching — it meant so much to me, so much to my family and it would have meant so much to my dad,” Chris Doohan said.

“My dad had three passions: space, science and trains. He always wanted to go into space.”

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Published Jan 25, 2017

Nichols-inspired Astronaut Heading to International Space Station

NASA has announced that first-flight astronaut Jeanette Epps will crew the International Space Station in 2018. According to a press release, Epps will become the first African American space station crew member when she launches on her spaceflight in May 2018. She’ll join Andrew J. Feustel as a flight engineer on Expedition 56, and remain on board for Expedition 57.

“Each space station crew brings something different to the table, and Drew and Jeanette both have a lot to offer,” Chris Cassidy, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a statement. “The space station will benefit from having them on board.”

Epps earned a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1992 at LeMoyne College in her hometown of Syracuse, New York. She went on to complete a master’s of science in 1994 and a doctorate in 2000 in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland. While earning her doctorate, Epps was a NASA Graduate Student Researchers Project fellow, authoring several journal and conference articles on her research. After completing graduate school, she went on to work in a research laboratory for more than two years, co-authoring several patents, before being recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency. She spent seven years as a CIA technical intelligence officer before being selected as a member of the 2009 astronaut class.

Last year, Epps participated in a NASA video called “ NASA: On the Edge of Forever ,” which featured her, several other astronauts and also William Shatner and Walter Koenig. Near the very end of it, Epps said, “So every step we take, we're just getting further and further into space and becoming more and more like Star Trek ." And Epps, on several occasions, has met Nichelle Nichols, who inspired many woman and people of color to reach for the stars. Check out this tweet she posted in 2015:

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Star Trek's Grossest Food Detail Might Make You Sick

"Star Trek" presents a utopian vision of the future where space crews travel the galaxy looking to extend olive branches of peace to any planets willing to listen. However, utopias are sometimes built upon a foundation of dark secrets, such as the fact in the "Star Trek" franchise people eat their own poop. It makes the folks eating bugs in "Snowpiercer" appear downright idyllic.

If you ever wondered what eating on the U.S.S. Enterprise was really like , look no further than "Star Trek: Discovery" Season 3, Episode 12 — "There Is a Tide..." The story sees Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) meet with the hostile Osyraa (Janet Kidder). During their chat, Osyraa comments on the apples made in the iconic replicator, a mainstay of the franchise that can transform energy into objects, most often food. He informs her, "It's made of our s***, you know. That's the base material that we use in our replicators. We deconstruct it to the atomic level and then reform the atoms." Osyraa promptly spits out a chunk of apple, and the loyal "Star Trek" audience becomes horrified at the revelation.

Of course, breaking down poop to its atoms and then rebuilding them in essence creates something entirely new, and one would imagine there's a hefty sanitization process. To a degree, it makes sense to reuse what people on the Enterprise expel, so their waste isn't simply getting thrown to some unfortunate nearby planet. The Enterprise is pretty green that way, and as Admiral Vance concludes, "It's pretty good for s***, and we don't have to commit atrocities for it."

Read more: Star Trek Stories That Are Actually Horrifying

Eating Poop Sounds Highly ... Logical?

To quote a classic work of literature: "Everyone poops." Seeing as the Enterprise may be out in space with limited physical supplies for extended periods of time, it makes sense they would find a way to reuse whatever waste they have on hand. Once it's broken down into atoms, it's really not "poop" anymore, and it can be transformed into something edible that, at the bare minimum, tastes "pretty good." 

Admiral Vance's revelation is certainly one of the funniest "Star Trek" moments in history , and it has an even greater standing within reality than most people may realize. In 2023, NASA revealed how astronauts aboard the International Space Station have technology that's capable of recycling sweat and urine into drinkable water. Cleaning up urine is one thing, but we're probably a ways off from figuring out how to break down feces and turn it into something edible. Although, according to a report from ABC News , that could very well be on the horizon, as it's mentioned how "Engineers have been working on how to make sure astronauts have basic needs met without resupply missions, including how to recycle food, air and water." Recycle food? Sounds like becoming an astronaut could become a lot less appealing in the near future after all. 

All things considered, the fact that replicated food tastes bland at worst means the replicators are truly marvels of engineering. In theory, someone could be eating the same atoms for breakfast every single day. And when one considers how the transporters in "Star Trek" actually work , eating sanitized, reconfigured poo atoms doesn't seem like the worst thing in the world. 

Read the original article on Looper .

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Ashes of Star Trek ‘Scotty’ actor James Doohan smuggled aboard the International Space Station: ‘He always wanted to go to space’

Laminated photograph containing actor’s ashes was hidden behind cladding of the columbus module, article bookmarked.

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The ashes of Star Trek actor James Doohan were allegedly smuggled aboard the International Space Station by video game developer and entrepreneur Richard Garriott.

Doohan famously portrayed Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, the engineer of Star Trek’s USS Enterprise.

The Canadian actor died in 2005 aged 85 , however, still managed to make it to space in the years since.

According to Deadline , Garriott was one of the first private citizens to visit the International Space Station (ISS) in 2008 during a 12-day self-funded mission as a private astronaut.

In a new interview, Garriott told The Sunday Times of how he was contacted by the actor’s son Chris Doohan, who said it was his father’s wish to make it to the ISS.

Garriott agreed to the proposition and received Doohan’s ashes, however, due to time constraints, was forced to bypass the official process necessary to bring objects aboard the station.

In what he says was a “completely clandestine” mission, Garriott smuggled several laminated photos of Doohan – which contained some of his ashes – onboard the ISS. He proceeded to secretly hide one of the cards behind the cladding in the floor of the station’s Columbus module.

“His family were very pleased that the ashes made it up there but we were all disappointed we didn’t get to talk about it publicly for so long. Now, enough time has passed that we can,” said Garriott.

A second laminated card was reportedly jettisoned into space by Gariott, while the third was returned to the late actor’s son.

In 2012, a separate collection of Doohan’s ashes was launched on a SpaceX rocket .

Speaking to the Times , Doohan’s son praised Garriott for taking the risk on behalf of his father. He told the publication: “Richard said, ‘We’ve got to keep this hush-hush for a little while,’ and here we are 12 years later.

“What he did was touching – it meant so much to me, so much to my family, and it would have meant so much to my dad. My dad had three passions: space, science and trains. He always wanted to go to space.”

A video of Garriott with the card on the station was also published by the publication.

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Breaking news, boeing starliner astronauts stuck at international space station as engineers on earth race against time to fix multiple problems.

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Boeing, we have a problem .

The return trip to Earth for two NASA astronauts who rode to orbit on the trouble-plagued company’s Starliner has been delayed for a third time as of Saturday — with Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams cooling their heels at the International Space Station (ISS) while engineers on the ground race against time to fix numerous issues with the spacecraft.

They have a reported 45-day window to bring them back, according to officials.

The return module of the Starliner spacecraft is docked to the ISS’s Harmony module, but Harmony has limited fuel leaving the window for a safe return flight increasingly narrow, officials said.

Wilmore and Williams were supposed to come home June 13 after a week on the ISS.

But because of problems that include five helium leaks on the Starliner, they’re still up there.

The issues with the Starliner included five thrusters that abruptly stopped working during flight and a series of helium leaks, CNN reported.

Posters on X went to town on Boeing, calling on Elon Musk to rescue the astronauts with one of his Space X Dragon spacecraft.

“How terribly dangerous is Boeing’s Starliner? May need Space X to rescue its astronauts from ISS,” wrote someone with the X handle @NONbiasedly.

“Boeing Starliner literally falling apart in space right now,” wrote Captain Coronado.

“Deathtrap nearly killed the two astronauts during takeoff and trip to the ISS. Mismanagement at Boeing proving extremely dangerous!!”

Others felt the situation was not as serious as it seemed.

Space expert Jonathan McDowell told The Post the situation may not seem as perilous as some believe.

“You can lose a few thrusters and still be OK because there are many of them but still this is the propulsion system and you want to understand everything that’s going on,” he said.

“They want to be sure these smaller issues aren’t masking bigger ones.”

McDowell said in a worst case scenario, the astronauts will have to wait until Musk’s Dragon spacecraft makes its scheduled trip up to ISS in August.

After years of delays and being halted once at the last minute , Boeing’s Starliner capsule finally blasted off its first manned flight from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 5.

During the 25-hour flight, however, engineers found hardware issues including five separate  helium leaks  involving the crafts’ thrusters that are part of the Starliner’s propulsion system and five thruster failures in its reaction-control system.

“We’ve learned that our helium system is not performing as designed,” Mark Nappi, Boeing’s Starliner program manager, said Tuesday.

“Albeit manageable, it’s still not working like we designed it. So we’ve got to go figure that out.”

Engineers are not sure what caused the problems.

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What ultimately happened to the USS Discovery in the 'Star Trek: Discovery' series finale?

Strangely, the Star Trek: Discovery ship's far-future fate was revealed in 2018 'Short Trek' episode 'Calypso'.

What happens to Discovery at the end of season 5?

How is the uss discovery sentient.

• What happens next?
• What is Zora's final mission?

Over five seasons of "Star Trek: Discoverywe got to know Michael Burnham and the crew of the USS Discovery, but the show's final scene is reserved for its eponymous starship. In the series finale " Life, Itself ", self-aware computer Zora fires up the spore drive for the final time to embark on one last mission. 

We still have no idea why she's given a top-secret Red Directive to wait indefinitely at these particular coordinates, but a 2018 " Short Trek " episode "Calypso" has already revealed the next stage of her journey. Here's what's in store for Zora and Discovery a millennium down the line — watch out for spoilers. (And if you need a refresher on all things Trek, check out our Star Trek streaming guide for how to watch nearly every series on Paramount Plus .)

Paramount+ Essential (ads): $5.99 /mo Paramount+ with SHOWTIME (no ads): $11.99 /mo

Catch up on the adventures of Michael Burnham and the crew of the Discovery on Paramount+. As the home of Star Trek, signing up means you'll also get access to an enormous library of other Star Trek shows and movies.

Several decades after the Discovery crew tracked down the Progenitor technology — long enough for Admiral Michael Burnham and Cleveland Booker to see their son, Leto, rise to the rank of Starfleet captain — the ship is assigned one final mission.

Burnham arrives on the bridge to give the ship's sentient computer, Zora (voiced by Annabelle Wallis), her briefing. "I'm going to bring you to a set of coordinates in deep space," explains the admiral. "Then me and your crew will leave. After that, you wait."

"For what?" Zora asks, but she doesn't get a definitive answer. 

"This is a Red Directive; we both know how transparent those are," replies Burnham, referring to the beyond-classified instructions that have become the mysterious Dr. Kovich's stock-in-trade. "I did hear a word in passing," the admiral adds. "'Craft'. I'm not sure if that's a person or a vessel or…"

That word will prove to be important, but as Burnham correctly predicts, she'll be long gone when Zora finds out what it means.

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After this emotional farewell, Discovery is waved off by an armada of Starfleet vessels and a few bars of Alexander Courage's iconic " Star Trek " theme. Then, Zora fires up the spore drive and jumps away to her mystery destination. 

Related: Star Trek: Discovery is at an end: Here are 5 things season 5 needed to fix

Starships often come to feel like characters in their own right, but never has this been as true as it is for Discovery.

Zora is much more than some glorified Siri or Alexa substitute, thanks to Discovery's 23rd century computer merging with hundreds of thousands of years of data collected by an ancient alien Sphere. Discovery was protecting this precious information when it jumped forward to 3189. 

The newly created super-computer gradually develops sentience, emotions and a personality, and decides to name herself Zora (which means "dawn" in several Alpha Quadrant languages). She's eventually recognized as a lifeform in her own right, and awarded the rank of Specialist by Starfleet.

What happens next? And what does it have to do with 'craft'?

Not a lot. For around 1,000 years, Zora sits and waits at the designated coordinates, getting some "alone time" inside some kind of interstellar storm cloud. Then she runs into an escape pod with a sole occupant — a man who calls himself Craft. 

This "reluctant" soldier (played by Aldis Hodge) hails from Alcor IV, and has spent the last decade at war with the V'draysh, which — based on comments from criminal boss Zareh in " Discovery" season 3 — appears to be a Pidgin word for the Federation. (This may explain why the enemy vessel Craft has commandeered contains an extensive collection of Earth cartoons from "the long ago".)

During their time together, Zora introduces Craft to tacos, the concept of Tuesday, and her favorite movie, 1957 Audrey Hepburn/Fred Astaire rom-com "Funny Face." She falls in love with the visitor, but he ultimately departs in the hope of finding his wife and son. She refuses to give him a lift home in Discovery, however, reasoning that she has to maintain position to complete her mission.

All this was revealed in 2018 "Short Trek" episode "Calypso", though back then — before season 2 had aired — we had no idea that Discovery would depart for the 32nd century, that the Sphere data would help Discovery's computer evolve into Zora, or that Burnham (then a science officer) would be promoted to captain. These days "Calypso" makes a lot more sense. 

So what exactly is Zora's final mission?

Beyond waiting for a long, long time, that remains unclear. But, seeing as her mission has top secret Red Directive status, it's pretty much certain that Dr Kovich — now revealed to be Temporal Agent Daniels of " Star Trek: Enterprise " fame — has a plan for Zora, and that her bumping into Craft is no accident. 

But whoever she encounters next, it's sure to have major ramifications for the galaxy — and perhaps beyond. Burnham promised a "new beginning" for Zora when she eventually comes back. Who knows what that might mean…

All five seasons of 'Star Trek: Discovery' and the 'Calypso' 'Short Trek' are now available to stream on Paramount Plus. To find out where to stream every other Star Trek movie and show, check out our Star Trek streaming guide .

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Richard's love affair with outer space started when he saw the original "Star Wars" on TV aged four, and he spent much of the ’90s watching "Star Trek”, "Babylon 5” and “The X-Files" with his mum. After studying physics at university, he became a journalist, swapped science fact for science fiction, and hit the jackpot when he joined the team at SFX, the UK's biggest sci-fi and fantasy magazine. He liked it so much he stayed there for 12 years, four of them as editor. 

He's since gone freelance and passes his time writing about "Star Wars", "Star Trek" and superheroes for the likes of SFX, Total Film, TechRadar and GamesRadar+. He has met five Doctors, two Starfleet captains and one Luke Skywalker, and once sat in the cockpit of "Red Dwarf"'s Starbug.  

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