NASA's Tribute To Star Trek's Patrick Stewart Is Literally Out Of This World

I love space. The reason why the science fiction genre has always been so appealing to us puny humans is as deep-rooted and primal as the instincts that made us look up in the first place. For as long as we've been on this planet, gazing at the endless expanse of the night sky, we've dreamed of reaching those stars (after first figuring out what the heck those lights even were, of course). And as we waited for technology to catch up to our ambitions, our narrative-loving ancestors spent eons doing the next best thing: stoking our imaginations and crafting stories where we could, in fact, do the impossible.

Not coincidentally, that's also why I love "Star Trek" and it's a major factor in why the late, great Patrick Stewart's portrayal of Jean-Luc Picard will forever be so meaningful. Who else outside of William Shatner's Captain Kirk best embodies the pure exploratory spirit of Gene Roddenberry? While our current attempts to expand our reach into the cosmos are dominated by ego and wealth and political agendas, Captain Picard couldn't possibly be more different.

That goes a long way towards explaining why Stewart's passing has struck a chord with so many ... including, apparently, NASA itself. While heartbroken reactions come pouring in across Hollywood and the world, one in particular feels profoundly fitting. In a social media post, the official account for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center paid tribute with a simple but moving image of two galaxies in the midst of colliding — which, from our vantage point, resembles the famous shape of the USS Enterprise itself.

History will never forget the name Captain Picard.

Thank you for inspiring the Next Generation of explorers. ✨ pic.twitter.com/5GbduqSfxL

— NASA Goddard (@NASAGoddard) October 29, 2026

The accompanying caption is as follows:

"History will never forget the name Captain Picard.

Thank you for inspiring the Next Generation of explorers."

Even the longest-tenured captains in the franchise reach the end of their journeys sooner or later, but not all have managed to do so with as much poignancy and grace as franchise legend Patrick Stewart. Both inside and outside of "Star Trek," the acting icon and towering pop culture figure has inspired countless fans of several generations over the decades. That, in and of itself, is as good as it gets for those hoping to make the most of our brief time on Earth. Yet, as if we needed further proof that Stewart remains in a class of his own, he now becomes one of the rare few who proved worthy of a tribute literally written in the stars.

For the nerds among us, the stunning image is actually a composite photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2022, according to NASA's publishing at the time. The three galaxies at the center of the portrait are collectively known as NGC 7764A, located a mind-boggling 425 million light-years away. The two in the upper right-hand corner appear to be caught in the act of a slow-motion galactic collision. Of course, it's only a trick of the eye and our subjective perspective in our solar system (along with our tendency to project familiar images onto nature, known as pareidolia) that makes this look so eerily similar to the starship that Picard called home for all those years on the big and small screens. But, well, wouldn't he be the first one encouraging us to be creative and find meaning in the beauty around us?

Something tells us that Patrick Stewart himself would readily — if humbly — approve of such an out-of-this-world tribute in space.