That was pretty!
Now I want to go. Shatner has broken the barriers for old fat guys to go to space.
He reported seeing gremlins outside the capsule trying to tear the thing apart!
(I have not read the entire thread, apologies if this has been mentioned before.)
Pretty cool though, Denny Crane in space. Denny Crane.
Old Shat sounded pretty emotionally overwhelmed. To me he seemed the most articulate of the crew to describe the experience. Inviting him was a great PR move on Bezos’ part.
ETA: CNN is already quoting him. Typically, they didn’t quote the most insightful parts.
His comment of how thin our atmosphere is, and how they just blew right through it into the blackness.
Perhaps will change some minds about polluting the air we breathe.
“like ripping off a blue comforter when you are sleeping, and then just blackness” or something like that.
Watching the booster rocket wobble back to the exact spot it launched from was pretty cool. Looked like someone dangled it by a string!! (simulation? ha)
Yes, that was the insightful part I alluded to. The metaphor of the blackness of space as death, and the earth’s blue atmosphere as a thin, fragile life-giving blanket. He kept going on about how we take “blue sky” for granted, and how incredibly quickly one can blast through this thin veneer into eternal blackness.
For a starship captain, he did seem rather pitifully uninformed about the actual depth of the atmosphere (“how thick is it? A mile?”) and Jeff Bezos had to set him straight.
Right, it was all faked!
Did he bring back a tribble?
Indeed. No body shaming here, because if they’re shooting fat old guys into space, I just want to know where to sign up.
The capsule landing greeters were classic. The second guy ran out and jerked on the parachute lines a couple of times? Like testing to see if they held? Then I realized he was probably doing some signalling?
I dunno, it looked silly. Maybe he was the one that fastened them? (checking his work) phew another close call! Dammit I forgot to put that bolt in!!
Everyone else just waved through the windows.
Seemed so low tech, bunch of pickups in the Texas desert…but the drone footage and mini cams on the booster? That was really amazing.
Shatner really isnt the knucklehead I had seen lately. doing silly commercials.
He hit a home run with his speech IMHO
You don’t even need to wear a girdle to make your tunic fit! 
55 years after his debut as Capt. Kirk, the Shat finally makes it into space.
Watching this, I had the same sense of excitement that I did as a kid watching the Gemini and Apollo missions. And space is now becoming reachable for everyone.
Some people who I guess are worried about devaluing the status of “astronaut” have suggested to be a real astronaut, you’d have to have a task to do rather than just go along for the ride. But wouldn’t that cut out all the Mercury crews?
The Russians sent a producer and a hot actress up recently.
Ok, Elon, now is the time, send Avery Brooks to the ISS.
Especially Alan Shepard, who compared himself to “Spam in a can.” Someone has suggested that professional astronauts be called “Astronauts” with an upper case A, as opposed to the tourist “astronauts.”
I wonder if George Takei is thinking, “Curse you, Bill. You’ll do anything to get attention.”
Amazing Shatner managed the whole thing without ripping his shirt once.
Also, Isaac Newton - mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author.
I like the definition from FAA as someone who “demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety.” I would say that the Mercury astronauts contributed to human space flight safety, even if they were mostly just along for the ride.
I agree. It was similar, except that Blue Origin’s anchors were no Walter Cronkite, so you had to put up with a couple of giggling amateurs. But the event itself was interesting and well covered, and in some ways, with live coverage of the return of both the booster and the capsule, actually more interesting to watch than some of the early NASA launches.
Well, everyone who can find a spare few million in the couch cushions, or get a personal invite from Jeff Bezos. But yes, space is indisputably becoming more accessible, albeit very slowly.
Well, you could say this about the Blue Origin crews too, because these flights are basically still experiments.