The Captain Kirk of fiction relishes real spaceflight

MOJAVE, Calif. -- The former commander of the starship Enterprise was gazing into the sky in amazement as the strange space vehicle began climbing toward the stars.

"Wow, will you look at that?" said William Shatner. "It's not like anything I've ever seen before."

You would think it difficult to impress the likes of the man who played Capt. James T. Kirk on "Star Trek," given all of the weird spacecraft he'd encountered over the years -- even if the encounters were only fictional.

But there he was, looking up in drop-jawed wonder like everyone else who had come here to witness the historic moment when SpaceShipOne -- the unique rocket-glider created by Burt Rutan, funded by Paul Allen and piloted by Mike Melvill -- boldly went as no man has gone before.

Few in the crowd seemed to have noticed Shatner, disguised somewhat by a baseball cap, sunglasses and torn jeans, manning his own video camera.

But as SpaceShipOne was being lofted to 50,000 feet by its carrier airplane, White Knight, a craft that resembles a praying mantis with wings, one fan did: "Mr. Shatner, can I just get a photo with you?"

Shatner gave the man an exasperated look, saying, "Jeez, not right now," then returned his attention to the sky.

The coupled White Knight and SpaceShipOne, followed by several chase planes, had disappeared into the sky near the early morning sun. A few minutes later, tiny contrails appeared in the east. The rocket had separated from the carrier plane. Suddenly, a large of plume of smoke shot straight up passed the sun.

"Holy cow!" Shatner said. "That's cool."

His companion held a radio that was broadcasting the discussion between the pilot, Melvill, and the ground crew at mission control.

"Did they just say something about thermal buckling?" Shatner asked her.

Minutes of silence on the radio passed after SpaceShipOne had disappeared from sight. The crowd grew quiet. Shatner, like many, seemed concerned that something had happened.

He scanned the sky. Then someone on the radio announced that Melvill had done it, had reached into space, and was now on the descent. Cheers went up. Someone popped open a bottle of champagne. Someone else mentioned that the pilot was 63 years old.

"Well, maybe he just got a little younger doing that," Shatner said, with a chuckle.

Minutes later, the spaceship reappeared, followed by the chase planes. Its wings were now configured to allow it to glide down for landing.

As the stubby, shuttlecock-like craft touched down, Shatner smiled: "That's what we're here for. It's critical that we do these kinds of things, for future technological progress and future well-being ... but also because it's a lot of fun."