Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives. The 90-year-old “Star Trek” actor is now the oldest person to fly in space
VAN HORN, Texas — William Shatner has boldly gone where no 90-year-old has ever gone before. The famed “Star Trek” actor and three other private crewmembers launched into space today (Oct.13) on a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket, marking the second time that Blue Origin has successfully launched a crewed suborbital mission on its vehicle for space tourism. Dubbed NS-18, it was the 18th flight of a New Shepard vehicle overall. “That was unlike anything they described,” Shatner was heard saying via a radio link as the capsule parachuted back to Earth. “Everybody in the world needs to do this,” he told Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos after landing. “That was unbelievable.” The reusable New Shepard rocket and capsule lifted off from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One, just north of the West Texas town of Van Horn, at 9:49 a.m. local time (10:49 a.m. EDT; 1449 GMT). After a 10-minute flight, during which the crew experienced about four minutes of weightlessness in outer space, the capsule safely delivered the crew back to Earth with a parachute-assisted landing near Blue Origin’s West Texas facilities. The rocket, which separated from the capsule after lofting the crew to space, also successfully executed an upright landing about seven minutes after liftoff, touching down just 2 miles (3 kilometers) north of the launchpad. The capsule reached a max altitude of nearly 66 miles (106 km),4 miles higher than the widely recognized boundary of space. Shatner is now the oldest person to have ever flown to space, beating the record set by the 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk, who flew on Blue Origin’s first crewed flight with the company’s founder Jeff Bezos on July 20. Shatner, aka Captain Kirk, is however not the first ” Star Trek ” actor to fly to space; that title goes to NASA astronaut Mae Jemison, who appeared in an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.
