Beam Me Up

Beam Me Up

Jan 07

To go along with the fact that I’m a Jets fan, I’m also a long-time Trekkie. So here’s a tidbit that had to be real since to make anything like this up, you’d have to be a lot more creative than me.

Captain Kirk plots to steal a cloaking (or stealth) technology from the Romulans in Season 3, Episode 2, The Enterprise Incident.Well, Capt. Kirk finally got his cloaking device.  Oh, not that Capt. Kirk…

Or even the new Capt. Kirk…

But rather this Capt. Kirk…

The Navy appears to have recently launched the Zumwalt, a wholly new and futuristic-looking destroyer, this week. This new destroyer, like the B2 bomber, is meant to have a low radar signal, to be stealthy, or to be “cloaked” in Star Trek terms.

Capt. James A. Kirk was chosen by the Navy to command the first ship capable of being cloaked. The middle initial, “A,” should be noted. Any Trekkie, including me, is well aware that THE Captain Kirk’s middle initial is “T.” rather than “A.” But this is so close that it’s almost eerie. One has to wonder whether the excellent captain’s parents were Trekkies because he was given a name so similar to the Star Trek hero.

The Trekkie bug may be contagious. The first Space Shuttle Enterprise was named for President Gerald Ford. Constitution was supposed to be the name of the first space shuttle, and it was supposed to be unveiled on Constitution Day, September 17th, 1976. However, a letter-writing effort organized by committed Trekkies (NO, I did not participate) persuaded the president’s decision in favor of Enterprise, named after the mythical Starship Enterprise from the Star Trek series. When the Enterprise was unveiled to the public on September 17th, 1976, NASA invited Gene Roddenberry, the series’ creator, as well as the majority of the original series’ core actors, to the dedication ceremony.