Star Trek legend William Shatner went boldly where no 90-year-old Hollywood actor has gone before and became the oldest person to ever reach space as part of a four-person mission on a Blue Origin rocket.
The trip - alongside paying customers Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries, as well as Blue Origin executive Aubrey Powers - was delayed temporarily from yesterday after forecasted high winds at the Texas launch site prevented take off.
The New Shepard 18 rocket finally launched at 9:49 a.m. local time and the mission lasted about 10 minutes. The crew capsule reached an apogee of 347,539 feet above ground level with a maximum velocity of 2,235 mph.
Shatner, best known for playing Captain Kirk in the famous sci-fi series, spoke about being nervous ahead of the trip, suggesting that launching during extreme weather would be highly illogical.
After the crew landed back on Earth, and emotional Shatner thanked Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, whose space company managed the launch.
"What you've given me is the most profound experience," he said. "I'm so filled with emotion about what just happened. It's just extraordinary. I hope I never recover from this. I hope that I can maintain what I feel now. I don't want to lose it."
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Blue Origin CEO thanks William Shatner for his inspiration
Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith released a statement Wednesday following the successful New Shepard 18 mission.
"At Blue Origin, we are motivated by the dreamers that inspire us and the builder who turn those dreams into reality. Today's crew represented both dreamers and builders," he said.
He specifically called out William Shatner for his role in "describing and imagining the wonders of the universe" and for inspiring "many of us to pursue a career in the space industry."
"This flight was another step forward in flying astronauts safely and often," Smith added. "It's an incredible team and we are just getting started."
New Shepard 18 rocket reached a max velocity of over 2,200 mph
Blue Origin shared "key mission stats" from the New Shepard 18 launch.
The crew capsule reached an apogee of 347,539 feet above ground level with a maximum velocity of 2,235 mph.
The mission lasted 10 minutes and 17 seconds from the official launch to the capsule landing.
William Shatner describes his experience in space
Jeff Bezos pops a bottle of champagne as William Shatner gets emotional talking about his journey.
"Everybody in the world needs to do this. Everybody in the world needs to see," Shatner said.
"It was so moving. This experience did something unbelievable," he said.
"The covering of blue, this comforter of blue we have around us," he said, describing the Earth. "You blast through the blue and then you're into black."
He described the "enormity" of the experience as the "suddenness of life and death," describing the blue earth as "life," the blackness of space as "death" and the speed of the launch felt like the "jeopardy of it all."
Shatner thanked Bezos for giving him this opportunity to go to space.
"What you've given me is the most profound experience," he said. "I'm so filled with emotion about what just happened. It's just extraordinary. I hope I never recover from this. I hope that I can maintain what I feel now. I don't want to lose it."
William Shatner quotes Isaac Newton as he reaches max altitude in space
In a tweet, William Shatner quotes Isaac Newton as he reached maximum altitude in space.
"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me," Shatner said.
N-16 flight crew sends messages to current flight crew
Minutes before the launch, the control center reads messages from crew members of the NS-16 flight that took off in July to the New Shepard N-18 flight.
"The depth of my desire to fly again is hard to express," Jeff Bezos' message read. The message then quotes lyrics from the song "Mr. Spaceman."
"Hey, Mr. Spaceman. Won't you please take me along? I won't do anything wrong. Hey, Mr. Spaceman. Won't you please take me along for a ride?"
Bezos ends his message to the crew, saying "God speed, New Shepard. I can't wait to hear your stories."
Jeff Bezos closes the hatch on Blue Origin rocket
Jeff Bezos has closed the hatch of the New Shepard.
There was some speculation that he was going to join the flight. While Bezos was dressed in the blue flight suit, he will not be on this trip into space.
Finals checks are underway, according to Blue Origin.
What does the rocket capsule look like?
Pictures from Blue Origin show a full-size model of the crew capsule where the passengers will sit for their journey.
- In seat one will be Blue Origin's very own Audrey Power, who has overseen all the company's New Shepard (NS) missions - today's being NS-18.
- In seat three will be legendary Star Trek actor William Shatner, invited by Blue Origin and Jeff Bezos to take part in the journey.
- In seat four will be Dr. Chirs Boshuizen, previously a Space Mission Architect at NASA and paying passenger on the flight.
- In seat six will be Glen de Vries, co-founder of clinical trials software company Medidata, who is a paying passenger on the trip.
Approximately one third of the capsule are windows - something never achieved before which will offer passengers a mesmerizing view during their flight.
Is Glen de Vries in space right now?
One of the more bizarre stories of the launch is that of Glen de Vries - a paying passenger on board the rocket and co-founder of Medidata, the Vice Chair of Life Sciences and Healthcare at Dassault Systèmes and a trustee of Carnegie Mellon University.
Fans of his have set up a website to track his journey to space and back - aptly named isglendevriesinspacerightnow.com - with them changing the status to yes just moments ago.
Former senior Blue Origin employee compares humanity to 'Ferengi' Star Trek race
Former head of Blue Origin's employee communications, Alexandra Abrams, warned that humanity was "becoming the Ferengi of our own story" as the company prepares to launch Star Trek legend William Shatner into space.
Abrams said the escapade was evidence that humans were becoming like the Ferengi—a fictional alien species that first appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation and are defined by large ears, bumpy heads, and insatiable greed.
Last month, Abrams penned an essay that she said was written in conjunction with 20 other former and current Blue Origin employees, accusing the company of fostering a "toxic" work environment.
FULL STORY: Ex-Blue Origin Communications Head 'Worried We're Becoming Ferengi of Our Own Story'