Astronaut to watch ‘Star Trek’ film in space

LOS ANGELES - “Star Trek” really is going to the final frontier.

NASA astronaut Michael Barratt will watch the film while aboard the International Space Station, 220 miles above Earth, NASA said in a statement to Access Hollywood.

Paramount Pictures gave the film to NASA’s Mission Control in Houston, which uploaded it to the space station last week.

“I remember watching the original ‘Star Trek’ series and, like many of my NASA coworkers, was inspired by the idea of people from all nations coming together to explore space,” Barratt said in a statement to Access. “‘Star Trek’ blended adventure, discovery, intelligence and storytelling that assumes a positive future for humanity. The International Space Station is a real step in that direction, with many nations sharing in an adventure the world can be proud of.”

It won’t be the “Trek” franchise’s first appearance about the station. Former station astronaut Greg Chamitoff and his crewmates made viewings of the original series a weekly standby.

And NASA astronauts aren’t the only fans of the new film, which has earned high marks from audiences and critics alike — even President Barack Obama praised it in a recent interview.

“’Star Trek,’ we saw this weekend, which I thought was good,” he told Newsweek, raising his hand in a Vulcan salute. “Everybody was saying I was Spock, so I figured I should check it out.”

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