William Shatner will boldly go where no man a small subset of man has gone before- actual space.
The 90 year old actor, best known for playing Captain James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek series will be not quite beamed up, but will blast off on board Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin New Shepard on October 12 of this year, becoming the oldest person to go into space.
William Shatner to Fly into Space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Rocket.
When Shatner goes up on the NS-18 mission – Blue Origin’ eighteenth mission, but only second with passengers outside of the aeronautic industry, he will beat out previous record holder, 82 year old Wally Funk for being the oldest person in space. Wally went up in the New Shepard back in July with Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos and 18 year old Oliver Daemen, who will maintain his title of youngest person to go into space
Joining the Canadian actor on the October mission will be Blue Origin’s Vice President of Mission and Flight Operations, Audrey Powers. Working with Blue Origin since 2013, Powers oversees flight operations, vehicle maintenance, and launch, landing, and ground support infrastructure.
She was also instrumental in bringing the years long process of certifying New Shepard for human flight to fruition, making it only fitting she would be on one of the rocket’s first fights. While Powers has said she is both “proud and humbled” to fly on the spacecraft, Shatner describes the upcoming flight as nothing short of a miracle.
“I’ve heard about space for a long time now,” the nonagenarian said in a statement. “I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.”
The fully autonomous New Shepard seats six passengers with no pilot necessary, but only two more crew members, Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries with join Shatner and Powers.
The reusable space craft takes passengers (who are trying to earn the title of astronauts, but it is an accolade that is dubious at best) past the Kármán line — the internationally recognized boundary of space.
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