It’s a big day for space flights today. Not only is it the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight (accomplished April 12, 1961 by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin), but it’s also the 30th anniversary of the first space flight of NASA’s Space Shuttle STS-1 (launched on April 12, 1981).

To top it all off, according to NASA, William Shatner is going help NASA pay tribute to 30 years of the Space Shuttle program today at 1pm EDT. Watch NASA TV and Nasa.gov at 1pm EDT to see/hear The Shat!! We don’t know any more specifics than that, but we’re definitely not going to miss a chance to hear from NASA and The Shat in the same broadcast!!

Here a couple of quick links so you can get your Shat on:

NASA

NASA TV

Ohhh myyy, our favorite helmsman (yes we know he was captain of the Excelsior) George Takei has lent his name and appearance to new commercials for the Social Security Administration.  We know George's age, but man, he looks too young to qualify for Social Security.  George stars opposite Patty Duke in the Star Trek spoofs where both don pseudo TOS uniforms and perform in front of a green screen.  

"You’ve navigated through asteroid belts, right?” Patty asks. “Well, compared to that, navigating socialsecurity.gov is a snap. It’s so easy even Kirk could do it.”  Neither Patty nor George were paid for the endorsement. George explains, “I have some notoriety from Star Trek and this is a way to get people to note the fact that we can now go online to apply for Social Security,” 

Just announced today, Mr. Spock Leonard Nimoy will be a voice actor in the new “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”, set to be released in July 2011. He is set to be the voice for Sentinel Prime.

Apart from his obvious Star Trek cred, Nimoy also has a history with Hasbro’s shape-shifting alien robots: He was the voice of Galvatron in 1986?s “The Transformers: The Movie.”

We’d like to wish Leonard Nimoy a VERY Happy Birthday today, on this, his 80th year!! Happy Birthday Leonard, you’ve entertained and enlightened us, and we thank you!

Leonard Nimoy has been in a ton of films and TV shows. Trust me; looking through his IMDB page almost gave my scroll finger carpal tunnel. Although he wrote and narrated one of my favorite documentary series of all time, “In Search Of”, the role that we all hold dearest to our hearts is that lovable Vulcan, Spock.

Here’s some of our favorite moments with Spock. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

It’s…

If you're in the Orlando, Florida area this weekend, here's your chance to see a Trek living legend and three of the Enterprise-D crew. Megacon is the place and Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, & Marina Sirtis will be there March 25th through the 27th, with a special appearance by William Shatner on Saturday, March 26th. Also on hand all weekend is Robin Curtis, Savek from "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock". Here's something we forgot about until just now, Robin also played Tellera in the TNG episodes "Gambit PT I & II". The usual autographs and photo-ops will be available. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, panel schedules and details aren't available. Be sure to check out the convention details and media guest info below.

We’d like to wish William Shatner a VERY Happy Birthday, today on his 80th birthday!! Happy Birthday Bill, thanks for all the fun and laughs over the years!

Unless you’ve been in Rura Penthe for the last 100 years you would know that William Shatner has done it all. From actor to director to producer to writer, he has worn just about every hat in Hollywood a person could wear. However, it’s his acting that most of us remember. During his galaxy-sized career he has portrayed such memorable characters as Denny Crane, The Big Giant Head, Bob Wilson, T.J. Hooker and none other than our venerable, lovable, unforgettable…Captain James Tiberius Kirk.

We, here at Subspace Communique, are huge fans of Nichelle Nichols (you’re thinking…”no duh?”). She’s such a class act, so talented, and so giving that we didn’t think we could admire her any more than we already did…until today.

Today she made an announcement that she would mail (for free, to ANY country) an autographed photo to the first 1,000 people that donate $50 or more to any organization listed on usaid.gov, the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID). 

Thanks to Miles from the Scifi Diner Podcast for giving us the heads-up on this. Tomorrow night (March 14th) Bio Channel's "Shatner's Raw Nerve" is serving up a Star Trek double header, starting off with TNG's LeVar Burton at 10pm / 9pm Central. In the preview clip for the episode, LeVar describes his time on the set of "Roots" and discusses his most difficult scene while filming the mini-series.

"For me 'Roots' is all about... family. It's about who we are, why we are the way we are" Says LeVar. "When I read those first sides for Kunta, I know exactly who this kid was. I had no problem putting myself in all of those situations." LeVar then goes into detail about his most difficult moment on the series.

Check out the LeVar Burton episode preview video here. 

Then if that wasn't enough, Star Trek's Walter Koenig joins The Shat to discuss, among other things, his time after Star Trek's cancelation.

This Thursday, March 10th in Ottawa, Ontario Canada, The Shat will host the 31st Annual Genie Awards. The Genie Awards seem similar to The Academy Awards in many ways, except The Genies are given out by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Apparently there is a first come, first serve primo section of the red carpet called the Fan Zone where, at this year’s awards, The Shat will do his magic.

The Genie Awards 'Fan Zone' is a coveted and prime celeb-spotting position near the red carpet. Host, William Shatner will hand pick two lucky fans from the 'Fan Zone' to cross the red carpet and attend the Awards.

What do you think the 2 lucky fans will be more excited about? Getting to attend the Awards, or getting to hold The Shat’s hand?  We vote for the hand.  I mean, come on, it's the same hand the killed the Gorn, almost.

(sources: genieawards.com)