# How Star Trek shapes real-world space exploration

> Astronaut Sophie Adenot brought Captain Pike’s badge to the ISS, celebrating 60 years of sci-fi inspiring actual space missions.
- Title: How Star Trek shapes real-world space exploration — Shortify
- Summary: Astronaut Sophie Adenot brought Captain Pike’s badge to the ISS, celebrating 60 years of sci-fi inspiring actual space missions. Science fiction does not…
- Keywords: star trek, esa, iss, space exploration, pop culture, technology, science, Star, Trek, shapes, real-world, space
- Source: Ars Technica — https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/09/astronaut-on-iss-celebrates-60-years-of-star-trek-with-prop-badge
- Published: 2026-09-08T20:20:20+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: star trek, esa, iss, space exploration, pop culture, technology, science
## Star Trek badge floats in space
ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot wore Captain Christopher Pike's Delta badge aboard the International Space Station to mark the franchise's 60th anniversary.

> I’m wearing Captain Pike’s badge aboard the ISS in celebration of continuing the real world work of science and exploration.
## Shared vision of discovery
Wearing the prop worn by actor Anson Mount on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Adenot highlighted how real science relies on curiosity and global teamwork.

> For me, exploration and science are about curiosity and cooperation daring to go a little farther together...
## Building the imagined future
The European Space Agency noted that international space station crews carry out the exact same core mission dreamt up decades ago by sci-fi writers.

> Science fiction imagines the future. We build it.
## Global cooperation in orbit
Reflecting Star Trek's United Federation of Planets, representatives from 12 countries have maintained a continuous human presence on the space station.
## A history of orbital tributes
Adenot is not the first astronaut to celebrate Star Trek in orbit. Samantha Cristoforetti wore a Starfleet uniform while brewing space espresso in 2015.

> Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised.
## Turning sci-fi into real tech
Technologies first envisioned on the show, such as tablet computers, handheld medical devices, and 3D printers, are now standard tools used in space.
## From what if to why not
Six decades of storytelling continue to push real-world engineers and astronauts to turn speculative ideas into active space hardware.

> So here’s to 60 years of a series that turned ‘what if’ into ‘why not’ and to every explorer it sent looking up at the stars.
## Key takeaway

Science fiction does not just predict the future of spaceflight, it actively inspires the technology, science, and international unity that builds it.