QMAGAZINE – While James T. Kirk, arguably one of the most famous and highly decorated starship captains in the history of Starfleet, the man, the actor portraying the Captain in the iconic sci-fi franchise “Star Trek” has never been in space.
But soon will be. On October 12, 2021, in fact when William Shatner will be flying on Blue Origin’s next crewed space mission to explore the strange new world of space for real.
The flight will be the company’s second crewed flight on its New Shepard spacecraft after flying founder Jeff Bezos in July, and will include in addition to Shatner, Blue Origin’s vice president of Mission and Flight Operations, Audrey Powers. Also on board will be Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries.
“I’ve heard about space for a long time now,” said Shatner in a Blue Origin news release. “I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.” As far as publicity-generating events go, this is about as good as it gets for space.
“Yes, it’s true; I’m going to be a ‘rocket man!’” the 90-year-old tweeted. He added: “It’s never too late to experience new things.”
William Shatner says the opportunity to go to space has him “thrilled” and “a little frightened.” The 90-year-old will become the oldest person to do so. “Things I’ve only played as an actor, I’m going to see firsthand”.
We can only hope that Shatner doesn’t have unrealistic expectations of what space is like.
June 3, 1969