William Shatner is Going Into Space on Jeff Bezos' Rocketship. It's About Damned Time.

Joe Raedle. Getty Images.

I'm no fan of the Billionaire Space Race. The real Space Race was about national pride. A competition between competing ideologies. A victimless war fought by bold men with nerves of steel who were willing to risk all, just out of a sense of duty and spirit of adventure. Not a bunch of tech nerds with the acumen to corner a market and the resources to make themselves into ballast in a completely automated vibrator for their own self-aggrandizement. Sorry but I don't see the glory in that. 

At least I didn't. Until now. 

Source - William Shatner is going from starring in “Star Trek” to seeing the real stars above. The sci-fi actor, 90, will be going to space aboard Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ New Shepard rocket, according to TMZ.

Bezos’ galaxy rider is made by his space-travel company, Blue Origin.

Shatner would be the oldest person ever to travel to space with this historic ride, TMZ reported.

The Canada native’s 15-minute flight will occur sometime in October.

Finally. Someone getting launched into space on one of these vanity projects that we can feel good about. In fact, no one deserves it more. 

In case I haven't made this obvious by now, William Shatner is one of my favorite celebrities. If not THE favorite. From the way he won all the horse semen in his divorce settlement to the way he's making a TV series for state run Russian TV and gives zero Dylithium Crystals about who's unhappy about it, to his dozens upon dozens of great roles playing an exaggerated version of himself, I'm fascinated by the man. I even own a lot of his "music." The more recent of which I listen to unironically, because he has paired himself up with some great artists. Though his all time classic, vintage song just became more appropriate than ever with this news:

When I was in grade school, watching "Star Trek" reruns, playing with the phaser, communicator and tricorder set I got for Christmas and drawing the Enterprise in my notebook when I should've been studying math, I wanted to be Capt. Kirk and to go into space. Neither of those things ever happened, obviously. But if I can't, I at least want the real James T. Kirk to get the chance. It might actually make it worth Bezos destroying thousands of businesses to become so rich he can build spaceships. 

I can get behind that.