He will boldly go as part of Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin’s latest mission.
Star Trek star William Shatner is set to really blast off into space on Wednesday (13 October), becoming the oldest ever astronaut.
The 90-year-old, who played James T. Kirk in the long-running space-set franchise, will boldly go into space onboard Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin’s second crewed mission.
Like the company’s first human flight in July, the journey will consist of an 11-minute hop from Texas to beyond the Karman line – the internationally recognised boundary of space in which the passengers will experience weightlessness – and back again.
Alongside Shatner, also flying onboard the New Shepard rocket will be Blue Origin executive Audrey Powers, Planet Labs co-founder Chris Boshuizen and co-founder of clinical research platform Medidata Solutions Glen de Vries.
“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 a statement on Blue Origin’s website.
The New Shepard rocket is set to launch at around 3pm Irish time after its lift-off was postponed by 24 hours because of high winds.
Special delivery: #NS18 astronauts put pen to postcard ahead of their flight. When they take to the skies, they’ll boldly go where no mail carrier has gone before. #postcardstospace 🚀 pic.twitter.com/FjG4TR42we
— Club for the Future (@clubforfuture) October 12, 2021
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
