Leonard Nimoy’s portrayal of unflappable calm and logic during dangerous space travels on TV and in movies inspired those whose stage is actual space.
NASA is mourning the loss of Nimoy as if Mr. Spock was one of their own. Since news of Nimoy’s passing Friday, astronauts have tweeted, uploaded a YouTube video tribute and issued statements, thanking the iconic Star Trek actor for the courage to “boldly go” into professions involving space exploration.
One of the more touching tributes came from astronaut Terry Virts, who tweeted a photo of his hand in Spock’s iconic “Live Long and Prosper” gesture at a window in the International Space Station looking over Earth.
Astronaut Scott Kelly, who will report to work at the International Space Station later this month for a year-long mission, a first for space travel, tweeted a picture of Spock and wrote “#RIP @TheRealNimoy who popularized #space travel for generations to come so we may live long and prosper.”
NASA administrator Charles Bolden said Nimoy’s Spock inspired scores of scientists, engineers and astronauts and called him more meaningful to NASA than just the science officer of the USS Enterprise.
“As Mr. Spock, he made science and technology important to the story, while never failing to show, by example, that it is people around us who matter most,” Bolden said in a statement released by NASA.
Nimoy’s passing also comes on the eve of the spacecraft Dawn’s approach to a dwarf planet, a mission his recognizable voice is attached to as a the narrator of a video on Dawn before its launch in 2007.
He was also present with the original television cast in 1976 when NASA made a public introduction of the space shuttle Enterprise.
