Shatner going where he's never gone before: Zero gravity
Hard to believe, but William Shatner has never been to space or in zero gravity.
That's right, the man who played Star Trek's Captain Kirk for 28 years and has been a NASA booster for decades has kept his feet firmly planted on the ground.
All that changes in August when Shatner boards the G-Force One, Zero-G's gravity-defying airplane, a Boeing-727 which makes a series of in-flight parabolic arcs to recreate, if only for a few moments, weightlessness. The company announced Shatner's upcoming flight on Wednesday.
Shatner is going where no William Shatner has gone before as part of a Star Trek-inspired fan experience promoted by Zero-G and Roddenberry Adventures, an exploration company founded by the late Gene Roddenberry's son Rod Roddenberry.
Shatner confirmed to Mashable that this will be his very first Zero-G flight and the closest he has ever come to actual spaceflight. When we asked if he was concerned about vomiting (a common land-lover response to weightlessness), Shatner told us he hadn't thought about it.
Even though the flight will coincide with the annual Star Trek convention in Vegas, Shatner's Zero-G flight has no affiliation with the Star Trek brand or CBS, which own owns the Star Trek franchise (and is relaunching the series later this year).
"Going weightless will turn a dream into reality,” said Shatner in a release. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to actually explore the Final Frontier and now I have the opportunity to experience zero gravity firsthand. It will be an incredible adventure.”
Zero-G confirmed that the 86-year-old actor and author may be taking just one weightless flight out of Las Vegas on August 4. But there will be witnesses. Zero G is selling a handful of tickets to fans who want to float by the serial tweeter's side (and hopefully not lose their lunch on him). However, before you start packing your bags, you may want to consider the price: a whopping $9,950 per seat.
Typically, Zero-G flights run around $5,000, but Roddenberry Adventures is throwing in some weightless swag and a video of that zero-gravity moment with Shatner to sweeten the deal.
This is not Zero-G's first brush with celebrity. George Takei once flew on Zero-G's 727. Probably best not to share that with Mr. Shatner.
Topics Star Trek
Lance Ulanoff was Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable. Lance acted as a senior member of the editing team, with a focus on defining internal and curated opinion content. He also helped develop staff-wide alternative story-telling skills and implementation of social media tools during live events. Prior to joining Mashable in September 2011 Lance Ulanoff served as Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for the Ziff Davis, Inc. While there, he guided the brand to a 100% digital existence and oversaw content strategy for all of Ziff Davis’ Web sites. His long-running column on PCMag.com earned him a Bronze award from the ASBPE. Winmag.com, HomePC.com and PCMag.com were all been honored under Lance’s guidance.He makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Fox News, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Kelly and Michael, CNBC, CNN and the BBC.He has also offered commentary on National Public Radio and been interviewed by newspapers and radio stations around the country. Lance has been an invited guest speaker at numerous technology conferences including SXSW, Think Mobile, CEA Line Shows, Digital Life, RoboBusiness, RoboNexus, Business Foresight and Digital Media Wire’s Games and Mobile Forum.
