William Shatner Goes to the Edge of Space Aboard New Shepard NS-18

The world’s most famous starship captain, William Shatner, is now the world’s oldest man to go to space, thanks to his ride on New Shepard Mission NS-18, courtesy of Blue Origin. Jeff Bezos, creator of Amazon and owner of Blue Origin, greeted the crew of this flight after their landing in the Texas desert on October 13, 2021.

Here is the video from this historic flight. It was the second with the Blue Origin New Shepard, and it included a professional flight crew as well as four private citizens: Audrey Powers, Glen de Vries, Dr. Chris Boshuizen, and William Shatner.

It was so moving,” said Shatner, “It was something unbelievable.” You’ll find Shatner’s post-landing comments at approximately 02:45:07 Move to a time base of 02:45:07 to hear everything the venerated Star Trek Captain Kirk actor had to say about this mission immediately after landing.

Shatner spoke to Jeff Bezos: “What you have given me is the most profound experience I can imagine. I’m so filled with emotion about what just happened, it’s just… it’s extraordinary. I hope I never recover from this. I hope I can maintain what I feel now. I don’t want to lose it.”

Shatner is now the oldest human to have ever flown into space – beating the previous oldest person, Wally Funk, who flew in the first New Shepard crewed flight on July 20, 2021.

Other tourists aboard this flight included Glen de Vries, Dassault Systemes vice chair for life sciences and healthcare, former NASA engineer Dr Chris Boshuizen, and Blue Origin vice president of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers.

The flight duration was 10 minutes, 17 seconds, and apogee hit 107 kilometers (66 miles straight up). The rocket used for this mission was a New Shepard (NS4), and the official launch time was 14:49 UTC. The launch and landing site were the same: Corn Ranch, 31°25?24?N 104°45?32?W, in Van Horn, Texas.

The US military, the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA define the edge as 80 km off the ground, towards the upper part of the mesosphere; in the 1950s, the US Air Force awarded “astronaut wings” to anyone who flew above 50 miles (80 km).

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