In Brief

Happy Birthday, Star Trek! (Capt. Kirk, We Love Ya)

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Star Trek Promo Ad 1966
Promo ad for Star Trek, 1966. (Image credit: NBC)

Forty-seven years ago today, a science fiction icon was born that would live long, and definitely prosper. I'm talking, of course, about the original TV series of "Star Trek," which launched the U.S.S. Enterprise into deep space (and our hearts) on Sept. 8, 1966 and that starship has been boldly going ever since.

Today, the "Star Trek" sci-fi franchise has spawned four spinoff series, an animated TV show and — as of this summer — 12 feature films, with the promise of more to come. So why do we love "Star Trek" so much? Why do we watch the crew of the Starship Enterprise, its brash and bold Captain James T. Kirk, half-Vulcan half-human First Officer Spock and their crew save the universe time after time? Even now, it's hard to pin down, but the series' vision of a far-distant future in which humanity has reached a global peace in order to expand into the stars has always been a major draw for me. Its sense of exploration, of pushing beyond the "final frontier," resonates even today. And let's be honest, who doesn't want warp drive and transporters and tricorders? At least we have handheld "communicators" (think cell phones). [Evolution of the U.S.S. Enterprise in Photos]

The legacy of Star Trek is more than four decades old and still going strong. See the evolution of Star Trek in this SPACE.com infographic. (Image credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com Contributor)

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.