Star Trek Actor to Fly in Blue Origin’s Commercial Flight

Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space travel company, announced that William Shatner, the Canadian actor who starred as Captain James T.Kirk in Sci-fi Star Trek, will fly on an upcoming launch on October 12. The 90-year old actor will become the first Sci-fi actor and oldest ever astronaut to travel to space.

“I’ve heard about space for a long time now. I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle,” Shatner said.

The New Shepard rocket will be Blue Origin’s second launch. T.Kirk will join three others, of which two of them are paid, customers. Former NASA engineer Chris Boshuizen, Dassault Systemes executive Glen de Vries and Blue Origin vice president Audrey Powers are Shatner’s fellow passengers. New Shepard would blast off at 8:30 am from the Blue Origin launch site in west Texas on October 12.

The cost of seats on Blue Origin is unknown, but it is said that the company will face competition in the space tourism industry. SpaceX, Blue Origin’s competitor, also sent four civilians into space. Blue Origin plans to live stream the launch on BlueOrigin.com.

This flight follows the launch of Blue Origin’s first human-crewed flight, which successfully launched on July 20. The first crewed flight carried Bezos, his brother Mark, Wally Funk, and paying customer Oliver Daemen.