In April 2007 the ashes of James “Scotty” Doohan rode a private rocket into space (See Sandy Stone’s first-hand report and videos here). The Legacy Flight soared to a space-worthy qualifying altitude before descending to Earth, where the payload was recovered.

Next month the Explorers Flight is planned to once again take Doohan for a ride - this time all the way into Earth orbit. The SpaceX Falcon 1 vehicle will be launched from the Marshall Islands, carrying ashes of 208 participants from 14 countries - the largest memorial flight ever. Joining Doohan on this mission - as they did on the Legacy Flight - will be Mercury astronaut L. Gordon Cooper and original-series writer/producer/director John Meredyth Lucas. In addition, Star Trek fandom will be well represented by my long-time chatroom friend Ben Frier. In fact, 18 of the participant profiles mention Star Trek.

The Explorers Flight is estimated to remain in Earth orbit between 10 and 240 years, after which it will reenter the atmosphere “like a blazing shooting star in final tribute.” The first Celestis mission was the Founders Flight in 1997, which carried the ashes of Gene Roddenberry into orbit.

Celestis recently announced plans for Luna Service missions, which will carry cremated remains to the surface of the moon as soon as next year. The Voyager Service, planned to launch its first mission in 2011, will leave the Earth-Moon system and head for deep space.

For more information about Celestis and their plans for future services, visit MemorialSpaceflights.com.

Star Trek Remastered

The Star Trek Remastered episode this weekend is "Assignment: Earth". The last episode of the second season was production number 57, airing on March 29, 1968.

The teleplay is credited to Art Wallace, from a story by Gene Roddenberry and Wallace As mentioned in an earlier column, Wallace was a journeyman television writer, with an emphasis on genre series. His credits go back to 1950’s Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and include The Invaders, Planet of the Apes (TV) and Space: 1999. Wallace also wrote an episode of Gene Roddenberry’s series The Lieutenant in 1964 titled “Tour of Duty”. That episode featured future Star Trek guest stars Gary Lockwood (as the titular hero), Ricardo Montalban and Ted Knight - along with Bobby “Boris” Pickett, best known as the singer of the novelty tune “Monster Mash”. But I digress...

In the director’s chair was Marc Daniels, veteran of 15 Star Trek episodes. Daniels directed episodes of nearly 100 television series, from I Love Lucy to Mission: Impossible and everything in between. A triple-threat, Daniels also wrote the Animated Series episode “One of Our Planets Is Missing” and might be the only series director to appear in an acting role in an episode. Write to me at mwade@roddenberry.com and tell me which episode it was and his role in it! 

I love Kirk’s very casual explanation of using the “lightspeed breakaway factor” as a means to visit 20th-century Earth. Time travel? Piece o’ cake.

This episode was intended to be the pilot for a new Roddenberry-produced series. The Gary Seven time-traveler-operative storyline was clearly written originally to stand alone. The presence of Kirk and Spock, and the Enterprise crew observing the goings-on from a distance, definitely feels like an add-on to make it into a Star Trek episode. Too bad the pilot didn’t convince the network to pick up the series. It would have been great to see Robert Lansing in a series at this time, at the peak of his smoldering intensity. Likewise, the 20-year-old Teri Garr (credited here as “Terri”) was pretty cute. Spock’s parting comment that “Mr. Seven and Miss Lincoln have some interesting experiences in store for them” was not as prophetic as Gene might have hoped.

Look for oft-used background extra Billy Blackburn - usually seen on the bridge of the Enterprise - as one of the technicians in the McKinley Rocket Base launch control room. Blackburn’s “home movie” footage showing his experiences on the set of the original series is one of the treats on the Season 1 Remastered DVD set.

For a glimpse behind-the-scenes on this episode, click here for a StarTrek.com article and photo gallery showing locations at Paramount Studios at the time and forty years later.

We’ll likely see fresh digital shots of the Enterprise orbiting Earth (better than the repurposed globe that appeared in the original episode) and perhaps some updated effects for the Beta 5 computer. It would be nice to see cleaner shots from the NASA stock footage, or even some new digital versions.

Considering that the first manned Saturn V - Apollo mission wouldn’t launch until almost nine months later, the footage of the 363-foot vehicle - at 7.6 million pounds of thrust, the most powerful engine ever created - blasting off and entering orbit must have been quite impressive to that 1968 audience seeing it for the first time.

Voicing the Beta 5, by the way, was Barbara Bosson. She made two on-screen appearances as captivating women in the original series, but also served as voice talent on four other episodes, including Trelane’s unseen mother (“Plato’s Stepchildren”) and Loskene (“The Tholian Web”).

Star Trek Family Birthday