Weekly Authority Edition #163 – Android Authority

The original Captain Kirk, actor William Shatner, will become the oldest person to go to space on October 12.

• He’s jetting off with Blue Origin at 9.30AM EDT (1.30PM GMT) from Launch Site One in West Texas.
• Shatner will break the record set by 82-year-old Wally Funk, who flew on Blue Origin’s debut flight in July.
• He’ll be traveling alongside Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations, Chris Boshuizen, co-founder of Planet, and Glen de Vries, co-founder of Medidata Solutions (who’s also a private pilot).

We’re all hoping he’ll say his iconic line: “To boldly go where no man has gone before.” But Captain Kirk has had plenty of wise words for us all. Here are just a few of his most famous speeches and moments on Star Trek: The Original Series.

To Boldly Go 

To finish up, here are some facts you (probably) never knew about William Shatner:

• He made his acting debut in 1951, in The Butler’s Night Off, playing the part of “A Cook.”
• His dad didn’t approve of his son’s acting career and instead wanted him to join the men’s clothing industry.
• He worked with George Lucas in 1965 when he appeared in the short film The Soldier. Lucas was working on set as an assistant cameraman while attending the University of Southern California.
• His birthday is on March 22, 1931.
• He often stole Leonard Nimoy’s (Spock) bicycle on the Star Trek set, and is known as a bit of a prankster.
• In the 1970s he did some stand-up as Captain Kirk, the idea behind the sketch being that Kirk fancied himself a comedian, but would tell purposefully unfunny jokes. The meta-humor, unfortunately, went over the heads of the audience.

We can’t wait to watch Captain Kirk go to space, the final frontier, for real this time.

See live launch coverage at T-90 minutes, with liftoff targeted for 8.30AM CDT / 1.30PM UTC.

A little something extra:

If it’s grey and cold where you are, check out this beautiful Sunday afternoon in Paris, shot by the Lumiere brothers in 1900 (colorized).

• October 12: Back 4 Blood release date (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, XSX, PC).
• October 13: OnePlus 9RT and Buds Z2 launch.
• October 19: Pixel 6 release date @ 1PM ET.
• October 19 or 26: Apple event? Possibly new MacBook Pros, Mac Mini, AirPods 3?
• October 21: Huawei event in Vienna, possibly P50 series launch.
• October 22: Dune lands in US theaters and on HBO Max.
• October 27-28: 2021 Android Dev Summit.

Tech Tweet of the Week

People making jokes about the Facebook services going down make me sick. Anyone who was using an Oculus headset at the time is currently trapped in VR, and if they die there then they die in real life.

Have an out-of-this-world week!

Paula Beaton, Copy Editor