A big thank you to my decades-long friend Antonio Peronace for inviting me along to the premiere of William Shatner’s new movie You Can Call Me Bill in NYC this weekend! One of the highlights was meeting the man himself and getting a picture with him!
The highlight of the day (in addition to meeting Captain Kirk of course) was also getting to meet and chat with citizen astronaut Dr. Sian Proctor, who was one of the citizen astronauts who flew on the first all civilian Inspiration 4 mission in 2021.
A 45 minute Q&A session followed the film mc’ed by Neil DeGrasse Tyson with Shatner and the film’s director Alexandre O. Philippe. Shatner, who turns 93 this week, was just as energetic and sharp as ever. He kept Degrasse Tyson on his toes throughout the session with the audience eating it up.
Their stealthy photographer also caught me enjoying the show with this shot appearing on their LinkedIn post of the event:
My friend Antonio is the new Executive Director of Space for Humanity, a non-profit that aims to send every day people into space. They are a sponsor of the film as Shatner had a life changing experience aboard a Blue Origin in 2022. Space For Humanity sent up their first participant, also on a Blue Origin flight, that year as well.