William Shatner
“Star Trek” legend is deeply moved by the flight into space
William Shatner (2nd from left) and his crew.
© imago images / Cover-Images
“Star Trek” legend William Shatner is the oldest person to travel into space. After his flight into space he is moved to tears.
William Shatner (90) traveled to space as a space tourist. The 90-year-old “Star Trek” legend is the oldest person who has ever been in space. For the second time, the space company Blue Origin has dispatched passengers from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (57). Bezos personally closed the flap on the capsule, which launched on Wednesday afternoon in western Texas. Before the flight, the astronauts on the first flight, including 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, sent their wishes for the four new passengers on the NS-18 mission.
The crew also included Audrey Powers, vice president of missions and flight operations at Blue Origin, Glen de Vries, co-founder of the medical research platform Medidata, and Chris Boshuizen, a technology entrepreneur. Actually, they should have started on Tuesday (October 12th). Due to strong winds, the trip was postponed to Wednesday.
William Shatner: “It was incredible”
Then the crew in the New Shepard, which consists of a rocket engine and a capsule, went into space in good weather conditions. Fans were able to follow the eleven-minute flight in a live stream. Bezos picked up the four passengers after a successful landing in the desert together with friends and family personally. The Amazon founder hugged all four of them and let the corks pop.
“Everyone has to see it. It was incredible and so moving. This experience did something incredible,” said Shatner after leaving the capsule wearing a black cap. Moved to tears, he thanked Bezos for the unique experience. “What you gave me is the deepest experience ever,” he said. “I’m so touched by what just happened. I hope I never recover from it. I never want to lose that feeling.” The actor, who became famous as Captain Kirk in the US series “Spaceship Enterprise”, said on NBC show “TODAY” last week that he had been invited to the trip.
Jeff Bezos was there on the first flight
Jeff Bezos was on Blue Origin’s first manned flight on July 20th. With his spaceship and three other companions, he took off from the desert in western Texas shortly after 3 p.m. with a slight delay.
The automated flight took around ten minutes. Also on board were Bezos’ brother Mark (53), the 82-year-old former US pilot Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen from the Netherlands. After his trip into space, the 90-year-old Shatner replaced Funk as the oldest person in space.