Canadian actor William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the Star Trek TV series and films, will travel into space aboard the New Shepard NS-18 with Blue Origin Vice President Audrey Powers. This is reported by the press service of the company, which was founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos.
“I have known about space for a long time. And I will take this opportunity to see it with my own eyes. What a miracle, ”said the 90-year-old actor.
The message notes that the flight will take place on October 12. Former NASA engineer Chris Boschuisen and entrepreneur Glen de Vries will fly with Shatner and Powers on the ship.
The TMZ portal reported that Shatner would fly into space on the Blue Origin spacecraft at the end of September. Sources of the publication claimed that the actor will be part of the second crew, which will fly on the New Shepard ship. If Shatner takes part in the mission, he will become the oldest person to have been in space.
New Shepard's first manned flight took place in July. Then the owner of the company and the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, visited the ship on the border with space. Bezos' younger brother Mark, 82-year-old former test pilot Wally Funk, and 18-year-old son of Dutch investment banker Oliver Damen took part in the manned test flight. Thus, both the oldest (the last record belonged to John Glenn, who flew at 77 years old) and the youngest astronaut in the world visited space at the same time.
During the first flight, the New Shepard capsule crossed the so-called Karman Line, which runs at an altitude of 100 km and separates the Earth's atmosphere from space. According to Blue Origin, the ship reached an altitude of 107 km above sea level, developing a speed of 3595 km / h during the flight. The total flight duration was 10 minutes 10 seconds. New Shepard's second manned flight is expected to last 15 minutes.
