William Shatner, the iconic actor who portrayed Captain Kirk in the groundbreaking sci-fi series Star Trek, which originally aired in 1966, is scheduled to fly into space on Wednesday, October 13, 2021, aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket. At 90 years old, he will become the oldest person to reach space.
Joining Shatner on this second crewed mission for Blue Origin are Audrey Powers, vice president of missions and flight operations; Chris Boshuizen, co-founder of Earth observation company Planet Labs; and Glen de Vries from Dassault Systèmes. The flight is set to launch from West Texas at 3 p.m. French time, delayed from Tuesday due to weather conditions.
Shatner's journey will break the record for the oldest space traveler, topping 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk, who flew on Blue Origin's New Shepard in July at Jeff Bezos's invitation. The record for the oldest to reach orbital space remains NASA astronaut John Glenn, who flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-95 mission on January 16, 1998, at age 77.
The mission comes less than three months after Blue Origin's inaugural crewed flight, which carried Jeff Bezos and three others to over 107 kilometers above sea level.
This flight arrives just days after a critical open letter from about 20 current and former Blue Origin employees, highlighting issues like sexist attitudes, lack of commitment to planetary sustainability, and safety concerns with the New Shepard vehicle.
One engineer who signed the letter stated, “Blue Origin has been lucky that nothing has happened so far.” Several signatories emphasized they would not fly on the vehicle themselves.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has responded by stating it takes these allegations "very seriously" and plans to launch an investigation. Blue Origin, meanwhile, maintains through a spokesperson that the New Shepard "is the safest space vehicle ever designed or built," as reported by Space.com.
