From left, Nichelle Nichols, “Star Trek: Discovery” star Sonequa Martin-Green and William Shatner attend a 2017 Hollywood red carpet premiere for “Discovery.” Ms. Nichols was instrumental in recruiting women and minorities for NASA, and on Wednesday, Mr. Shatner, 90, will become the oldest person in outer space.
Capt. Kirk is finally going into space — for real.
On Wednesday, William Shatner, 90, will join his fellow astronauts for Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-18 mission and become the oldest person to ever be in outer space.
Originally scheduled for today, the mission was pushed up to Wednesday because of weather. The launch is set for 6:30 a.m. Pacific time from Launch Site One in western Texas.
Mr. Shatner told reporters he was disappointed by the delay. He also admitted to being nervous about stepping into the final frontier for the 10-minute flight, but said he’s looking forward to seeing “the vastness of the universe.”
The flight will go just beyond the Karman line, which is 62 miles high and marks the division of the atmosphere from outer space. Mr. Shatner and his three fellow astronauts will experience four minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth.
Mr. Shatner, who starred as Capt. Kirk in the original “Star Trek” series on NBC and Paramount’s first six “Trek” movies, is breaking the record for the oldest astronaut, set by Wally Funk, 82, who flew into space in July with Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.
On Wednesday, Mr. Shatner will join three other crew members on his trip into space: Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations; Chris Boshuizen, co-founder of Planet Labs (today known as Planet); and Glen de Vries, co-founder of Medidata Solutions, a software company.
While he will become the only “Star Trek” actor to actually be in outer space, Mr. Shatner isn’t the first to have a real-life connection with space efforts. Back in the 1970s, Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura in the original series and subsequent movies, was a key figure in recruiting minorities and women as astronauts.
email: dmason@newspress.com
