Star Trek New Voyages Take Us On a Tour of 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue

Have you ever wondered what really happened during the 18 minutes of missing time on President Nixon’s audio tapes? That’s just what Star Trek New Voyages sets out to reveal in a new vignette titled “1701 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

Written and directed by Pony R. Horton and starring Ralph M. Miller as Dick, “1701 Pennsylvania Avenue” combines Watergate-era political intrigue with… Klingons! Oh… and maybe a tribble of two in the Oval Office.

So find out what might have happened if Nixon was a Trekkie? Find out in the vignette below. You can also find this and many more original episodes on the New Voyages/Phase II YouTube channel.

James Doohan’s Ashes Reach the Final Frontier

Star Trek’s original Scotty, James Doohan, finally reached the stars for real this week as his ashes were carried into space aboard the Falcon 9. The rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral by SpaceX, an aerospace company that provides launch services to NASA as well as other government and private agencies, and carried the ashes of 308 individuals, including Doohan.

In addition to the ashes, the rocket carried a Dragon capsule as part of a demonstation flight to the International Space Station. One service that SpaceX provides to NASA is the delivery of supplies to the ISS. The company currently has a $300 million dollar agreement with the space agency and is looking at an ongoing contract worth $1.6 billion. This mission will see the Dragon fly within 1.5 miles of the ISS to validate the operation of sensors and flight systems, and to demonstrate the ability to abort a rendezvous.

For Doohan, the event is the culmination of a mission that began in 2008 when SpaceX attempted to send a portion of the actor’s ashes into space aboard the Falcon 1. That rocket failed to achieve orbit, but now Doohan can join Gene Roddenberry in the final frontier. And what better way could there be for the man who was Scotty to make that journey than on a mission to test and prove the engineering of a spacecraft that will help us take the next step towards the stars?

Doohan passed away in 2005 due to pneumonia at the age of 85.

Project "Send Picard to Space" a Success

For Logan Kuglar it all started with a dream: to send Picard to space. We’re not talking about Sir Patrick Stewart himself though, but rather an action figure of Picard. Joining their Captain on this flight would be Riker and Data, and flying along side would be Kirk, J.J. Abrams and Roberto Orci (in action figure form of course). The method of transportation would be models of the Enterprise and small high-altitude balloons. The destination? The stratosphere.

The only thing standing in the way was something that, ironically, Picard and Kirk don’t use: money. That’s where Kickstarter came in. Kuglar flew past his goal of $2,750 at warp speed as 169 backers committed $6,193 to this awesome endeavor. The result was a successful mission that saw the action figures soar into the stratosphere and return safely to Earth.

It was an amazing two-hour flight and Kuglar has put together an extensive photo essay chronicling it all.

To see the details of just what happened visit StarTrek.com for the official photo essay tracking the project from pre-launch through successful flight.

Redshirts Card Game Gives You the Power to Boldly Eliminate Your Crew

The red shirt is a thing of legend in the Star Trek universe. If you are one of those officers with the misfortune of being assigned to security, you might want to schedule shore leave before Kirk sets course for the next mission. Otherwise you could end up like the poor folks in the Redshirts Card Game.

Designed by Jonathan “Skippy” Schwarz with art by David Reddick, the Redshirts Card Game is a light-hearted game of space exploration, betrayal, and murder for 2-7 players. Using two decks of cards—Captain’s Log and Redshirts—you get to decide the fate of your crew. According to the box your mission is:

“To discover hazardous news planets. To make contact with psychotic civilizations. To boldly eliminate your crew like no Captain has done before.”

Sounds like fun, right? If you’d like to venture into this truly final frontier you can get the Redshirts Card from ThinkGeek for $19.99. The set includes 108 cards, a rulebook, and lots of danger.