Twittering Trekkies thrilled as Capt. James T. Kirk and Canadian astronaut swap tweets

"Star Trek" fans rejoiced Friday after Captain James Kirk of the starship Enterprise, or rather the actor who played him on the iconic sci-fi series, swapped tweets with a Canadian astronaut.

"@Cmdr_Hadfield Are you tweeting from space? MBB," William Shatner -- who signs his Twitter messages with shorthand for "my best, Bill" -- asked Chris Hadfield, mission specialist on the International Space Station.

"@WilliamShatner Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain. And we're detecting signs of life on the surface," replied Hadfield, who arrived at the space station on December 21 for a five-month stint.

Hadfield was presumably referring to Earth, as he has been using Twitter to beam back compelling images of landscapes as diverse as the Sahara desert and snow-covered western Canadian cities.

The Canadian Space Agency, situated just outside Shatner's hometown Montreal, got into the act as well, offering to arrange a live chat between the actor and the astronaut.

Star Trek fans meanwhile reveled at the exchange. "Looks like @WilliamShatner has opened a hailing frequency to the #ISS and @Cmdr_Hadfield answered! #cool," tweeted space and science blogger Jason Major.