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William Shatner, the Hollywood actor who played Captain James T. Kirk on the beloved space drama “Star Trek” will be launching to space in real life on October 12.
Jeff Bezos’s aerospace firm Blue Origin has announced that their New Shepherd spacecraft will carry the veteran actor to the edge of space on the upcoming mission.
It will be the company’s second space-tourism mission and will also include a former NASA engineer from Australia Chris Boshuizen, a Blue Origin overseeing New Shepherd flight operations Audrey Powers, and a healthcare entrepreneur Glen de Vries.
The crew of four will be taken past the Kármán line, at around 100 kilometers above sea level, an internationally recognized boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.
Unlike SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission, the crew of the New Shepherd will only leave the edge of the atmosphere for a brief period of time – around 11 minutes – and won’t be orbiting the planet.
The 90-year-old Shatner will be the older person to ever go to space, breaking the previous record set by Wally Funk, who was part of the first Blue Origin mission in July.
“I’ve heard about space for a long time now. I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle,” said William Shatner in the statement.
In 2013, Shatner had famously turned down the offer by Richard Branson to fly to space on board the latter’s Virgin Galactic spacecraft. According to reports, Shatner was unwilling to pay for the flight.
Meanwhile, Blue Origin is currently embroiled in multiple controversies. Last week, in an open letter, current and former employees accused the company of ignoring safety standards and its executives of sexual harassment, sexism, and intolerance towards employees trying to instigate change.
Cover Image: Shutterstock
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