'Star Trek' actor flies into space on billionaire Jeff Bezos' rocket

Star Trek actor William Shatner will fly into space next week on a rocket built by Blue Origin, the space company of billionaire Jeff Bezos.

William Shatner, best known for his role as Captain Kirk in the Star Trek television series, will be one of four astronauts on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket on the flight scheduled for October 12, the company said in a statement on October 4. "I've heard about space for a long time," William Shatner, 90, said in a statement released by Blue Origin.

In July 2021, billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, flew about 107 km above the Texas desert (USA) on the New Shepard rocket and returned safely to Earth.

William Shatner (right) will fly into space on October 12.

REUTERS

Blue Origin said pioneering female astronaut Wally Funk, 82, became the oldest person in space when she flew with Jeff Bezos in July. William Shatner is believed to be flying to break that record. The actor flew as a guest of Blue Origin, but the company said it has also sold nearly $100 million in tickets to paying customers, although it did not specify who.

William Shatner will join the flight with Chris Boshuizen, a former NASA engineer; Glen de Vries, an entrepreneur; Audrey Powers, a vice president and engineer at Blue Origin. It is unclear whether these three people are die-hard Star Trek fans or not.

William Shatner played Captain James T. Kirk in the original version of Star Trek

REUTERS

Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000. The New Shepard rocket reaches speeds of 2,200 mph, enough to reach the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space.

William Shatner first played Captain James T. Kirk in 1966 in the television series Star Trek, which many NASA astronauts say sparked their love of space. The actor also starred in films such as Big Bad Mama, The Devil's Rain, Kingdom of the Spiders …

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