'Star Trek' star William Shatner becomes oldest person to enter space
Oct 13, 2021
Washington [US], October 13 : 'Star Trek' star William Shatner, 90, entered space aboard Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space shuttle on Wednesday morning and became the oldest person in history to go to space.
As per Variety, also on board the second Blue Origin flight were Chris Boshuizen, a former NASA engineer and co-founder of Planet Labs; Glen de Vries, the co-founder of Medidata; and Audrey Power, Blue Origin's vice president of mission and flight operations.
The shuttle lifted off from Launch Site One in Texas, taking its passengers 62 miles above Earth's surface and past the Karman line, the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. Shatner and the crew will experience around four minutes of weightlessness onboard the shuttle.
The flight was originally set to take off on Tuesday, but it was delayed a few days ago due to bad weather and heavy winds.
Blue Origin's first space expedition took place in July, with Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, aviator Wally Funk and Oliver Daeman, the youngest person ever to enter space, aboard the privately funded, reusable spacecraft.
Funk previously held the record for the oldest person to go to space, at 82 years old.
Shatner is best known for playing Captain James T Kirk on 'Star Trek', originating the role 55 years ago on TV.
"I'm going up into space; I don't know how many people can say that. It's life-changing in its way," Shatner said in a promotional video.
"Not because of the aerial adventure, but because of the people I'm meeting and talking with... We're just at the beginning, but how miraculous that beginning is. How extraordinary it is to be part of that beginning. There is this mystique of being in space, that much is closer to the stars and being weightless. I shall be entranced by the view of space," he added.
