Leonard Nimoy Talks About Spaceflight and Meeting Obama

President Obama may buy Star Wars pop-up books and wield a Star Wars lightsaber—but how about showing some love for Star Trek? Don't worry. Leonard Nimoy revealed last week at the 26th National Space Symposium, where he was accepting the 2010 Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award, that President Obama is a Trek fan, too, msnbc reported.

"I know for sure he's a Star Trek fan," Nimoy said, because the first time the two met, President Obama spread his fingers in Mr. Spock's traditional Vulcan salute.

The actor, who's a fan of real-world spaceflight, had watched President Barack Obama's major space policy speech and says he's excited about what's to come in the world of real-life space exploration.

"I do believe that President Obama means it when he says that he is 100 percent interested in space," Nimoy told reporters. "All in all, I'm looking forward," he said. "I hope it's going to work out for the best."

Nimoy also said that it's just beginning to sink in that the space shuttle era is ending.

"I think people will be grieving," he said. "I will. I'll be sad to see it go. It's been a very important part of our image of NASA and space for the last number of years."

Source: scifiwire