{"id":17477,"date":"2021-10-04T18:19:09","date_gmt":"2021-10-04T10:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/blue-origin-confirms-itll-give-star-trek-captain-william-shatner-a-suborbital-ride\/"},"modified":"2021-10-04T18:19:09","modified_gmt":"2021-10-04T10:19:09","slug":"blue-origin-confirms-itll-give-star-trek-captain-william-shatner-a-suborbital-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/blue-origin-confirms-itll-give-star-trek-captain-william-shatner-a-suborbital-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin confirms it\u2019ll give Star Trek captain William Shatner a suborbital ride"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_646528\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-646528\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-646528 size-full-width\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/211004-shatner-powers-630x354.jpg\" alt=\"William Shatner and Sarah Knights\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/211004-shatner-powers-630x354.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/211004-shatner-powers-1260x709.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/211004-shatner-powers-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/211004-shatner-powers-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/211004-shatner-powers-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-646528\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Blue Origin\u2019s Sarah Knights gives William Shatner a tour of the West Texas launch tower. (Blue Origin Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s official: Star Trek actor William Shatner is due to fly on Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard suborbital spaceship next week, becoming the oldest person to go into space at the age of 90.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon founder Jeff Bezos\u2019 space venture made the announcement this morning, confirming a report published by the TMZ celebrity news site 10 days earlier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve heard about space for a long time now. I\u2019m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle,\u201d Shatner said in the news release.<\/p>\n<p>On Twitter, Shatner essentially confirmed that he had to keep mum about the flight and the TMZ report until today. \u201cSo now I can say something,\u201d he wrote. \u201cYes, it\u2019s true; I\u2019m going to be a \u2018rocket man\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blue Origin\u2019s vice president of mission and flight operations, Audrey Powers, will also be on board for New Shepard\u2019s launch. That rounds out a crew of four that also includes tech entrepreneurs Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries, whose names came to light last week.<\/p>\n<p>Next week\u2019s countdown and launch will be live-streamed via Blue Origin\u2019s website, starting at the T-minus-90-minute mark. Liftoff from Launch Site One in West Texas is currently set for 8:30 a.m. CT (6:30 a.m. PT) Oct. 12.<\/p>\n<p><strong>William Shatner talks about the trip on NBC\u2019s \u201cToday\u201d show<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.today.com\/today\/embedded-video\/mmvo122768965874\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This will be Blue Origin\u2019s second crewed suborbital spaceflight, following up on the trip that Bezos and three other fliers took in July. That flight carried the world\u2019s youngest and oldest spacefliers: 18-year-old Dutch student Oliver Daemen and 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk. Their status in the record books was confirmed last week by Guinness World Records&nbsp;\u2014 but if Shatner flies as planned, the record books would have to be rewritten again.<\/p>\n<p>The next flight is expected to stick with the same flight profile: New Shepard\u2019s hydrogen-fueled booster will send the foursome past the 100-kilometer (62-mile) mark, known as the Karman Line, which is internationally recognized as a space boundary. After the crew capsule separates from the booster, Shatner and his crewmates will experience a few minutes of weightlessness and get a view of the curving Earth beneath the black sky of space. Then the booster will land itself, and the capsule will make a parachute-aided touchdown.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike the Starship Enterprise, the New Shepard rocket ship is designed to fly autonomously, with no controls built into the cabin. The whole trip should take about 10 minutes. That\u2019s significantly shorter than the three-day orbital trip that four amateur spacefliers took aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule during last month\u2019s philanthropic Inspiration4 mission.<\/p>\n<p>Thousands of postcards will be packed aboard the capsule for an outreach program created by the Club for the Future, Blue Origin\u2019s educational nonprofit organization.<\/p>\n<p>Going to space should resonate for Shatner, who portrayed Captain James T. Kirk on the original \u201cStar Trek\u201d TV series in the 1960s and in a string of movies starting in 1979. Although Kirk is Shatner\u2019s best-known role, he\u2019s continued to star in TV shows and movies ranging from \u201cT.J. Hooker\u201d and \u201cBoston Legal\u201d to the 2021 film \u201cSenior Moment.\u201d He\u2019s currently the host and executive producer of \u201cThe UneXplained\u201d on the History Channel.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Origin said Shatner and Powers will fly as \u201chonored guests,\u201d without paying a fare. (In contrast, Boshuizen and Glen de Vries are paying an undisclosed amount.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe expect to continue to have special guests from time to time, and some of them may be employees we want to thank for all of their work on the New Shepard program,\u201d company spokesperson Sara Blask told GeekWire in an email.<\/p>\n<p>TMZ reported that a documentary focusing on Shatner\u2019s space trip was in the works, but there was no immediate word on the status of such a project.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 624px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1445014271809622025&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2021%2Fblue-origin-confirms-itll-give-star-trek-captain-william-shatner-suborbital-space-ride%2F&amp;sessionId=aa7402d6203220f90b2cfb06cfb430eaf460d645&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1445014271809622025\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Concerns about New Shepard\u2019s flight safety were raised last week in an essay written by current and former Blue Origin employees, but Powers voiced no qualms in today\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n<p>In her role as vice president, Powers oversees New Shepard\u2019s flight operations, vehicle maintenance and the infrastructure for launch, landing and ground support. She played a lead role in process that led the Federal Aviation Administration to certify New Shepard for human spaceflight \u2014 and was one of the participants in a launch rehearsal that preceded July\u2019s flight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so proud and humbled to fly on behalf of Team Blue, and I\u2019m excited to continue writing Blue\u2019s human spaceflight history,\u201d Powers said. \u201cI was part of the amazing effort we assembled for New Shepard\u2019s Human Flight Certification Review, a years-long initiative completed in July 2021. As an engineer and lawyer with more than two decades of experience in the aerospace industry, I have great confidence in our New Shepard team and the vehicle we\u2019ve developed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the FAA said it would investigate the allegations made in the essay and on \u201cCBS Mornings.\u201d The FAA is responsible for clearing next week\u2019s flight, as is typically the case for commercial spaceflights.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Previously:<\/strong> SNL\u2019s Star Trek parody pokes fun at Jeff Bezos<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blue Origin\u2019s Sarah Knights gives William Shatner a tour of the West Texas launch tower. (Blue Origin Photo) It\u2019s official: Star Trek actor William Shatner is due to fly on Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard suborbital spaceship next week, becoming the oldest person to go into space at the age of 90. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos\u2019 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[509,1250,493,4631,4402,4438],"class_list":["post-17477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blue-origin","tag-new-shepard","tag-space-tourism","tag-star-trek","tag-suborbital-spaceflight","tag-william-shatner"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17477"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}