In space, apparently, nobody can hear you scream. But they can see you tweet, and on Friday Chris Hadfield, mission specialist aboard the International Space Station got a very special tweet from a certain Captain James T Kirk.
“@Cmdr_Hadfield Are you tweeting from space? MBB,” tweeted William Shatner to the Canadian astronaut, signing of with his signature shorthand for “my best, Bill”.
“@WilliamShatner Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain. And we’re detecting signs of life on the surface,” replied Hadfield, who arrived on the space station two weeks ago for a five-month stint.
As excitement among Trekkies reached levels that would have required the USS Enterprise to turn on the red emergency lights, the Canadian Space Agency got involved, offering to arrange a live chat between the actor and the astronaut.
“Looks like @WilliamShatner has opened a hailing frequency to the #ISS and @Cmdr_Hadfield answered! #cool,” tweeted space and science blogger Jason Major, presumably using terms used in Star Trek.
