William Shatner and Wil Wheaton Explain the Mars Curiosity Rover in NASA Videos

On August 5, NASA’s Curiosity will makes its landing on Mars. The event will mark the end of the journey and the start of the mission of exploration for the Mini Cooper-sized rover. To help explain the descent and landing sequence, the space agency has once again tapped a Star Trek legend—William Shatner. It’s the continuation of a long-time relationship between Shatner and NASA, but this time they’ve also brought in the voice talents of another Trek icon, Wil Wheaton. In separate videos, the generation-spanning William and Wil take us through Curiosity’s “Grand Entrance” and its mission to find out if life ever existed on the Red Planet.

Watch the two videos below and let us know whose narration you like best.

Shatner

Wheaton

William Shatner Sends a Message to the International Space Station

When NASA brought the space shuttle program to an end they called upon William Shatner both for a wake-up call on the final flight of Discovery and for the narration of the shuttle tribute documentary. Now Shatner is once again bridging the gap between Earth and space with a message for the international space station.

In the message he encourages the station crew to pass the time by listening to his latest album “Seeking Major Tom.” This is, in fact, an excellent idea. If you’ve yet to hear it, take Kirk’s advice and listen today as Shatner puts his spin on classic songs by David Bowie, Queen, Deep Purple, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, and more.

Watch Shatner’s video message to the ISS below.