Why William Shatner (Star Trek's Captain Kirk) is tweeting about Chandrayaan-II
William Shatner
. Known for his bold leadership, iconic one-liners, and deep-space diplomacy, Kirk became a symbol of space exploration in pop culture.
Recently, Shatner posted about Chandrayaan 2 and this has sparked curiosity among his fans given the fact his iconic character Captain Kirk, never landed on the moon.
It all started when William Shatner, our favorite Captain Kirk posted on X about a 'calendar glitch'. "If it's the end of the week; why does my phone's calendar have the first day start on Sunday?," he posted and this invited a series of replies, one among which was "This is why I'm never gonna believe you landed on the moon. How could you pull that off in 1969 and you still don't know that the first day of the week is Sunday?"
Shatner's reply to this quirky comment was, "Well the Chandrayaan-2 ship took some amazing photos of the lunar surface including images of 2 of the Apollo modules that were left on the surface.
That was before the ship crashed adding another crater to the surface."
Now, as expected the post got viral and fans quickly asked "Did Shatner land on moon?".
No, Captain Kirk did not land on the Moon. But let's be honest, if anyone should have landed on the Moon wearing a Starfleet uniform and dropping one-liners about boldly going where no man has gone before, it's Captain James T. Kirk.
Now, when people say 'Captain Kirk,' they usually mean William Shatner, the actor who played the iconic starship captain on Star Trek: The Original Series. That show launched back in the 1960s, right around the same time
NASA
was launching actual astronauts into space.
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So it's easy to understand why some wires get crossed in people's minds. But while the Enterprise was out dodging Klingons and beaming down to alien planets, the real NASA team was doing something a little more down-to-Earth or rather, up-to-Moon.
The actual Moon landing happened in 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to step onto the lunar surface during the Apollo 11 mission. Shatner, meanwhile, was probably filming an episode where he was wrestling a lizard man or kissing a green alien.
Groundbreaking in its own way, sure but not exactly NASA material.
That said, Shatner has had quite the real-life space adventure of his own. In October 2021, he actually did go to space sort of. At age 90, he became the oldest person ever to fly into space aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard, a suborbital spaceflight owned by Jeff Bezos. So yes, William Shatner went to space, but no moon boots were involved. Just a quick 11-minute joyride that gave him a taste of zero gravity and a view of Earth from above.
Still, pretty epic.
And let's not forget the symbolic influence Captain Kirk has had on space travel. Shatner's portrayal of a brave, diplomatic, and occasionally shirtless space explorer inspired generations of scientists, engineers, and yes, even astronauts. NASA has openly acknowledged Star Trek's influence on tech and space culture, from real-life communicators (hello, smartphones) to actual mission names that nod to Trek.
So, to wrap it up: Captain Kirk never landed on the Moon, but his legacy has absolutely orbited our collective imagination when it comes to exploring the cosmos. William Shatner may not have left footprints in lunar dust, but he did help kick-start the dream for a whole lot of people who one day might.
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