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Captain Kirk: Bezos' Blue Origin to Send William Shatner into Space

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Captain Kirk: Bezos' Blue Origin to Send William Shatner into Space

#11

Post by daveslash »

TMWNN wrote: post #3
daveslash wrote: post #2

From the article "Reports in 2013 said he had turned down Sir Richard Branson's offer to fly him into space with Virgin Galactic" and "Shatner has a fear of flying" I just feel the need to point out: Maybe Shatner feels safer on Blue Origin because the Virgin Galactic craft have wings, whereas Blue Origin craft don't? Edit: There can't be " a man! on! the wing! " if there's no wing. ;-) [ I'll show myself out... ]

Given Shatner's prior comments on the subject, it's obvious that Bezos is paying Shatner a lot of money to be able to advertise that Captain Kirk flew on a Blue Origin rocket. Definitely the sort of thing that a competitor that knows that it is behind and is willing to do/pay anything to get ahead would do.

You are, of course, correct. In fact, the article even states that explicitly. My comment was a [too?] subtle snarky reference to a famous 1963 episode of the Twilight Zone starring Shatner, in which there was "a man on the wing!". "Nightmare at 20,000 ft" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXHKDb0CNjA

Re: Captain Kirk: Bezos' Blue Origin to Send William Shatner into Space

#13

Post by mataug »

flerchin wrote: post #8

The risk/reward doesn't seem to make sense for Bezos. If Shatner dies, it'll be the end of their program. If he lives, maybe a marginal benefit? The man is 90, and his health is not stellar. He legit could die of anything.

> The risk/reward doesn't seem to make sense for Bezos. If Shatner dies, it'll be the end of their program. If he lives, maybe a marginal benefit? The man is 90, and his health is not stellar. He legit could die of anything.

The whole space tourism idea has the same issue, if a rich billionaire, regardless of health condition, dies then Blue origin would have the same problem.

This seems on the surface to be a PR stunt to boost Bezos massive ego.

Re: Captain Kirk: Bezos' Blue Origin to Send William Shatner into Space

#14

Post by dehrmann »

TMWNN wrote: post #3
daveslash wrote: post #2

From the article "Reports in 2013 said he had turned down Sir Richard Branson's offer to fly him into space with Virgin Galactic" and "Shatner has a fear of flying" I just feel the need to point out: Maybe Shatner feels safer on Blue Origin because the Virgin Galactic craft have wings, whereas Blue Origin craft don't? Edit: There can't be " a man! on! the wing! " if there's no wing. ;-) [ I'll show myself out... ]

Given Shatner's prior comments on the subject, it's obvious that Bezos is paying Shatner a lot of money to be able to advertise that Captain Kirk flew on a Blue Origin rocket. Definitely the sort of thing that a competitor that knows that it is behind and is willing to do/pay anything to get ahead would do.

Shatner does seem to always want to make a buck, but at 90, with all those years of conventions, meet and greets, and sweet TJ Hooker royalty checks, doesn't he have enough money?

Re: Captain Kirk: Bezos' Blue Origin to Send William Shatner into Space

#15

Post by AdamHominem »

flerchin wrote: post #8

The risk/reward doesn't seem to make sense for Bezos. If Shatner dies, it'll be the end of their program. If he lives, maybe a marginal benefit? The man is 90, and his health is not stellar. He legit could die of anything.

Neither Virgin nor Blue Origin actually go into orbit or even "space", and both have a trash safety culture and a not-much-better record:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/science/jeff-bezos-blue-o...

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-red-warning-lig...

This is obviously a PR stunt, but the point of the stunt it to get people to think Blue Origin = "space"

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