Early NASA reaction to Star Trek

[TrickyDickie]

This 1967 letter from Leonard Nimoy to Gene Roddenberry is very interesting and sheds light on NASA's reaction to the show:

 

[Masao]

That's a very interesting letter. I wonder if there were some interactions between the space program and Star Trek that influenced episodes. I also wonder if Nimoy attended as himself or Mr. Spock. (Are there any photos of the event?)

 

[Marsden]

I really enjoyed that letter, imagine John Glenn getting Leonard Nimoy's autograph. Wow.

 

[Masao]

Some early images I found:
Nimoy at Goddard: https://img.rtvslo.si/_up/upload/2015/03/01/65192296_09_show.jpg
Vulcans at NASA: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rJOeNuyem.../1SSvLKC6_KM/s1600/marinerv_oct67_control.jpg
Doohan with Armstrong, 1967: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LYEF7LAnrKM/T-Sw6BLzcEI/AAAAAAAAAwk/mUES8kCnM-c/s1600/james+doohan.bmp

 

[alensatemybuick1]

Doohan with Armstrong, 1967: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LYEF7LAnrKM/T-Sw6BLzcEI/AAAAAAAAAwk/mUES8kCnM-c/s1600/james+doohan.bmp

That is not Armstrong, Neil or otherwise. It is the pilot of the "lifting body" (in the background) that subsequently crashed it, footage of said crash actually ended up being used in the opening of The Six Million Dollar Man.

 

[Masao]

Sorry, I meant to spell out "Bruce Peterson." Pretty close...?

 

[Push The Button]

Doohan looks like he would have fit right in at NASA, and he probably could have.

 

[TrekMD]

What an amazing letter. It shows the impact Star Trek has had ever since it first aired.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Here's a better look at the Nimoy-at-Goddard photo:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/outthere/files/2015/02/NimoyGSFC_large.jpg

As a Six Million Dollar Man fan, I was tickled pink to see Scotty visiting Peterson and the M2-F2.
Great thread.

 

[Mr Awe]

Thanks for sharing! That was a fascinating read. Both at the level of Star Trek and NASA, but also Nimoy's thoughts about how he felt attending.

 

[Harvey]

There is a large folder of papers rleated to NASA correspondence at UCLA, including a lot of back-and-forth about the Godard dinner. Shatner was originally the guest of honor, but had to decline because of a motion picture commitment. Nimoy’s appearance promoting the show is notable because it was just two days before Alex Brewis, his agent, met with Desilu business affairs and demanded that Nimoy get a big pay raise, among other points, setting off a conflict that would last several weeks and eventu Incolve SAG.

In 2013, I wrote about a couple of NASA related documents on my blog:

http://startrekfactcheck.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-reluctant-astronauts.html

 

[Qonundrum]

That's a very interesting letter. I wonder if there were some interactions between the space program and Star Trek that influenced episodes. I also wonder if Nimoy attended as himself or Mr. Spock. (Are there any photos of the event?)

Ditto.

Having just rewatched "The Immunity Syndrome", a story with a rather compelling dilemma for Kirk to have to deal with as Captain, I never looked up "the coalsack nebula" until now. Dang... that story is even better as a result ands all due to one namedropping from Spock. My guess is there was some interaction on some level; throwing in real science somewhere can really add much to the fantasy. And TIS is a great example of selling high concept and making it all feel effective. Referencing a real space phenomenon only adds that much more gravitas.