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‘Star Trek’ actor William Shatner headed to space on next Blue Origin flight

Set to be oldest person to fly to space
William Shatner
Posted at 11:33 AM, Oct 04, 2021
and last updated 2021-10-04 13:36:12-04

“Star Trek” actor William Shatner is headed to space for real next week.

Blue Origin, a spaceflight company founded by former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, announced Monday that Shatner will blast off aboard one of its capsules at about 9:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Oct. 12.

The company says Shatner will fly on board New Shepard NS-18 alongside its Vice President of Mission & Flight Operations, Audrey Powers.

They will join crewmates Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries for the flight, which is set to lift off from “Launch Site One” in western Texas.

“I’ve heard about space for a long time now. I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle,” said Shatner in a Blue Origin press release.

Shatner is best known for originating the role of Captain Kirk in 1966 for the TV series “Star Trek,” a science fiction franchise set in space.

Blue Origin says Shatner has long wanted to travel to space and at 90 years old, he’ll become the oldest person to have flown to space.

This flight follows Blue Origin’s successful first human flight on July 20, which included Bezos and his brother, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and Blue Origin’s first customer, Oliver Daemen.