Star Trek’s William Shatner to fly to space with Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin
- The 90-year-old Shatner, who starred as Captain James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek series, described the opportunity as a ‘miracle’
- He is set to fly to space on October 12 aboard the company’s crewed rocket, becoming the oldest ever astronaut in the process
Blue Origin on Monday confirmed that William Shatner, who starred as Captain James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek series, will fly to space October 12 aboard the company’s crewed rocket, becoming the oldest ever astronaut.
“I’ve heard about space for a long time now. I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle,” said the 90-year-old actor in a statement by Jeff Bezos’s space company.
The science fiction television show aired for only three seasons starting in 1966, but was hugely influential in popular culture and spawned several films and spin-off series.
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It was notable for the utopian vision of its creator Gene Rodenberry, who envisaged a society where humanity had put aside its divisions and united with other peaceful spacefaring civilisations.
Shatner, as Kirk, commanded the USS Enterprise on a five-year mission “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no man has gone before”.
His actual voyage to space will be far shorter – about 10 minutes, in a flight that will take the crew just beyond the Karman Line 60 miles (100 kilometres) above the Earth.
Blue Origin also announced the identity of the remaining passenger, Audrey Powers, the company’s vice-president of mission and flight operations.