William Shatner Set to Blast Into Space on Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin

Life imitates… art?

William Shatner, famous for portraying Captain Kirk on the original “Star Trek” TV series in the ’60s, will join the crew of Blue Origin’s next space flight on Oct. 12. At the age of 90, he is set to become the oldest person to fly into space. Blue Origin is the aerospace company owned by Amazon founder and multibillionaire Jeff Bezos, who himself launched into orbit on one of the company’s rockets this summer.

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“I’ve heard about space for a long time now,” Shatner said in a statement Monday provided by Blue Origin. “I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.”

The actor-director-producer-singer-horseman is officially part of Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-18 flight, whose passengers will include Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s VP of mission and flight operations, alongside crewmates Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries.

The Oct. 12 flight comes on the heels of Blue Origin’s successful first human flight on July 20 which included Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and Blue Origin’s first customer, Oliver Daemen.

In a tweet Monday, Shatner exulted, “So now I can say something. Yes, it’s true; I’m going to be a ‘rocket man!'”

After originating the role of Kirk in 1966, Shatner reprised his turn as the captain of the starship USS Enterprise in seven “Star Trek” movies, one of which he directed. Shatner currently is host and executive producer of “The UnXplained” on the History Channel. From the producers of “Ancient Aliens” and “The Curse of Oak Island,” the hour-long, nonfiction series explores “the world’s most fascinating, strange and inexplicable mysteries.”

Blue Origin’s live launch coverage of the Oct. 12 flight with Shatner will begin on blueorigin.com at T-90 minutes. Liftoff is currently set for 8:30 am CT from Launch Site One in West Texas. Also on board NS-18 will be thousands of postcards from Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, whose mission is “to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and to help invent the future of life in space.”

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