Shatner is asteroid #31556 and also known as 1999 EP₅. Shatner was discovered by the American astronomer Roy A. Tucker at the Goodricke-Pigott Observatory, which is a private observatory in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Shatner’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 2.69 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.22, a period of revolution of 1 615 days, and an inclination of 4.8 degrees. Shatner is a member of the Hirayama-family Vibilia/ Leonidas (so who is the head of this asteroid-family meanwhile is disputed).

Shatner is named after the Canadian actor William Shatner, who was born in 1931, 22nd of March. He is best known for his role as Captain Kirk of the spaceship Enterprise in the tv series Star Trek. William Shatner already had roles in theater plays when he was a child. Then he studied economics, but became an actor, writer, and director. He has been a very successful actor, nevertheless he lived in a pick-up truck in the early 1970s because he was in financial need. William Shatner was married four times and has three daughters from his first marriage. Two of them had Star Trek guest appearances. William Shatner is breeding horses and Dobermann dogs. William Shatner supports several charities. Among them Sea Shepherd. William Shatner took part in a suborbital space hop aboard the New Shepherd from Blue Origin in October 2021. He was ninety years “old” (Doesn’t old actually mean that you aren’t able anymore to do anything new or thrilling?) and thus broke the record of the oldest person in space. He also was among the first six-hundred space tourists. William Shatner also in 2021 became a member in the WWE Hall of Fame.

What William Shatner did lately doesn’t belong to the reasons of naming the asteroid Shatner with this name. That William Shatner supports Sea Shepherd do I find noteworthy only because I thought Sea Shepherd would only have anonymous supporters because Sea Shepherd sometimes challenges governments. The official naming citation states that Shatner is honored with lending his name to an asteroid because he inspired people to become actors, pilots, scientists, or astronauts. But it actually is the Star Trek series doing all this, maybe with exception of inspiring to become actors. The IAU only is so biased against Star Trek that it is the only fictional series, that mustn’t lend names to asteroids. Naming an asteroid after an actor instead of after the role in the series could be meant as a detour. But then it isn’t a successful detour. Roles and actors in other cases are namesakes of different asteroids. So Shatner also can only be understood by the actor and not by his roles. William Shatner also had many other roles. I learnt from the documentary The Center Seat (the German dub has in mad German tradition a changed, but still English title: Inside Star Trek) that William Shatner has one habit, which is so outstanding that it defines him: Wherever he sees a camera, he must be in front of it. When he had no scene, then he tried to sneak into other actors’ scenes. This also explains why he never retired, but has always been seeking publicity. So Shatner represents seeking publicity. Shatner represents photo bombers and attention addicts. Shatner of course also represents people named Shatner.