45 Years Ago Today, Star Trek Beamed Into Our Lives

By Nancy Atkinson - September 8, 2011 at 2:35 PM UTC | Site News

I've got a poster that says, "All I Needed to Know About Life, I Learned from Star Trek." Why? Because it's true. We all know we need to seek out new life and new civilizations, and to always keep your phaser on stun. Oh, and always follow the Prime Directive, too.

It was 45 years ago today that the first Star Trek original series show premiered on television. To celebrate, I'm NOT wearing a red shirt, and I'll share videos of the intro from the original series, above, and below, a blooper reel from the 1960's. It's sure to make any Trekkie smile.

And here's a

cool post from NASA

about the science of Star Trek, and how some of the sci-fi stuff from the 1960's are realities today.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com