Washington, Aug 13 (IANS): Robin Williams, an Oscar-winning actor and comedian who died of an apparent suicide at age 63, helped wake up the crew of NASA's space shuttle Discovery to start their morning in 1988.
"G-o-o-d morning Discovery! G-o-o-d morning Discovery! Rise and shine, boys. Time to start doing that shuttle shuffle. You know what I mean. Hey, here's a little song coming from the billions of us to the five of you," he said in a video.
The wakeup call - inspired by his role in 1987 movie "Good Morning, Vietnam" - left the STS-26 mission controllers orbiting the earth laugh and smile.
STS-26 Commander Frederick H. Hauck, Pilot Richard Covey, Mission Specialists Mike Lounge, Pinky Nelson and David Hilmers received the traditional wake-up call on their first day in orbit on a mission.
"They were to deploy NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-3, part of a network of satellites that support numerous NASA satellites and human spacecraft, including the International Space Station," NASA officials wrote in a video description of the wakeup call.