Armstrong lauds another spaceman

Neil Armstrong, in a very rare public appearance, said the following
at a
recent "Star Trek" fete honoring Jimmy "Scotty" Doohan...

"This evening is really an honor for me," Armstrong began. "It reminds
me that I am indeed remarkably fortunate. I have ridden on 13
different rocket engines, and had the privilege of commanding three
different types of spacecraft, traveling as fast as 25,000 miles an
hour. Candidly, and unfortunately, all of those were primitive -- none
of them had warp drive. The Enterprise was about 100,000 times as fast
as anything I ever flew. Our crafts did not even have the ability to
leave our solar system. Lucky for those Klingons!

"Not having a transporter was a significant disadvantage. The method
we used to descend from orbit to the surface of an alien world, uhh,
worked," the astronaut continued to the crowd's laughter, "but it
would've been far more efficient and far less traumatic if we could
just be beamed down. I'm hoping for my next command, to be given a
Federation starship. When I get that command, I would like to have a
crew like Captain James T. Kirk had: Spock, Chekov and Uhura, Dr.
McCoy, Sulu, and the others we all remember.

"Now, I have a confession to make. I am an engineer. And if I get that
command, I want a Chief Engineering officer like--" he took on a
Scottish lilt-- "Montgomery Scott. Because I know Scotty will get the
job done, and do it right. Even if I often hear him say, 'But
Caeptain, I dunna have enough time!' So from one old engineer to
another, thanks Scotty."