90 Year Old William Shatner Becomes The Oldest Man In Orbit

The crew of the Blue Origins NS-18 (left to right):
 Australian Chris Boshuizen, William Shatner, Audrey Powers
(Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations)
and Glen de Vries.
Image courtesy of the Associated Press.

Above actor William Shatner as Captain Kirk
in Star Trek The Original Series (1966) and below
astronaut Shatner viewing Earth and space
from inside the RRS First Step capsule (2021).
Well done, sir!

On Wednesday, October 13th of this year, the Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket and capsule RRS First Step (designated NS-18) took off from its launching point at Corn Ranch (Launch Site One) in the west Texas desert, sending its four passengers into the edge of space in the lower atmosphere just above the international boundary of space at the Karman line (set at 62 miles, or 100 km, above sea level).

The separated capsule reached an altitude of approximately 351,185 feet above sea level (about 66.5 miles, or 8.92 km) before beginning its descent to Earth, touching down not far from its launching site approximately 10:15 after liftoff. The four-person crew was greeted by their cheering families, ground recovery crews, and the founder of Blue Origins, Mr. Jeff Bezos.

Among the crew was 90 year old veteran Canadian actor, William Shatner, best known for his role as Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek The Original Series (1966-68), cartoon series, and in seven of the Star Trek feature films between 1979 - 1994.

His fictional character inspired several generations of young people to take interest in science fiction and space exploration -- this writer included. Some astronauts also attribute Shatner's character with inspiring them to seek the dream of traveling to space.

Fifty-five years after first donning the uniform of Captain Kirk, Mr. Shatner at age ninety years and six months, became the oldest human being to date to travel into space and become an astronaut, if only for a few minutes; a wonderful lifetime achievement for someone who has helped inspire so many.

Also among the crew members of NS-18 were Blue Origin's vice president of mission and flight operations, Miss Audrey Powers, Mr. Glen de Vries, and Mr. Chris Boshuizen -- who became the first full Australian citizen to travel to space.

All four of the crew were given their official astronaut wings by Mr. Bezos personally after a brief celebration of their accomplishment.

Congratulations to all of y'all and to the people at Blue Origins who made this endeavor possible on a job very well done!

Yeah, take THAT one, Flat-Earthers!