Star Trek actor William Shatner and three others will venture into space on Blue Origin’s latest launch slated for Wednesday.
Launch from Blue Origin’s spaceport facilities in West Texas is scheduled for 9 a.m. CT.
The fully automated flight, delayed by a day due to the weather, will not take you higher than about 66 miles. The capsule will parachute back to the desert floor, not far from its starting point.
Shatner’s 10-minute flight will be the second manned flight of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
Bezos, who was on Blue Origin’s debut flight in July, is also a big Star Trek fan and invited Shatner to take the flight as a guest on the New Shepard spacecraft for his NS-18 mission.
Shatner joins three others – two of whom are paying clients in the burgeoning space tourism business. Former NASA engineer and Planet Labs co-founder Chris Boshuizen, Medidata co-founder Glen de Vries and Blue Origin Vice President of Mission & Flight Operations Audrey Powers will be on board the Blue Origin capsule along with Shatner.
Earlier this week, Shatner tweeted a photo of himself and his crewmates in blue flight suits, which are far more futuristic than the yellow jersey-style uniform he wore on the original Star Trek.
“Aren’t we all adorbs!” he said.
Oldest American in space conquers West Texas Town
At 90, Shatner becomes the oldest person to ever step on the final frontier. The very idea of him leaving the atmosphere is powerful.
“It is time for Captain Kirk to actually physically ascend into space. I’m pretty excited about that, ”said Becky Brewster, Mayor of Van Horn, a rural town of about 1,800 people in what was once a desolate desert ranchland in far west Texas, was changed by the presence of the Blue Origin spaceport 25 miles away.
The mayor, a lifelong Star Trek fan, said she was disappointed not to have been invited to the launch site, but still enjoyed the moment. She plans to watch the livestream from her back yard.
“He and Mr. Spock were the ones who got me interested in space and science fiction and everything else,” Brewster said. “So, from junior high age to when William Shatner is actually in our town to go into space. You know, it’s kind of like the whole circle for me now.”
Aside from his celebrity identity, Shatner’s space constraint is a kick for close observers at his age.
Joseph Barra, who works as a bartender for a catering company in Los Angeles, only heard that he got an unusual gig at a remote spaceport in Texas.
“I’m like Halt. You had me in space. I had no idea what else,” said Barra. “And then all I heard was that they were going to send a 90-year-old man into space. And I thought, ‘Damn it, that sounds intense. Then you come to the page and I think, ‘Oh, it’s William Shatner.’ “
Barra said the experience of serving drinks to Shatner and his crewmates was surreal and so much more.
“We see that the man who has a sense of it popularized space or dreamed of everyone going into space,” said Barra. “Now he’s the one who flies into space and he’s the one who sets the bar. It’s inspiring. Some like here, this man is 90 years old and proves that no matter how old you are, you have more to do and on this earth to accomplish, and you can still give people an inspiration and source and something to strive for. “
Barra said he heard Shatner say he plans to simply look out the window at the earth during his minutes of weightlessness.
But he apparently has more plans.
A Twitter user asked Shatner, an avid tweeter, on Tuesday if he would post from space.
“I can’t bring my cell phone, but I’ve arranged a little something,” Shatner replied with a wink emoji.
Shatner plans to return to work as Captain Kirk as soon as he’s back on Earth.
“I’m doing Space, then Indiana Comic Con, and then Sunday Wizard World Chicago,” he tweeted.
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