'Life changing': As Blue Origin touches down, William Shatner becomes oldest man to fly to space
Follow UsStory highlights
Blue Origin’s New Shephard’s second human flight of all civilians carried legendary Star Trek action William Shatner, Blue Origin's vice president of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers, Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries into space
The much-waited and talked about launch of Blue Origin took place, making the Hollywood actor, William Shatner, the oldest man to fly to space.
Blue Origin’s New Shephard’s second human flight of all civilians carried legendary Star Trek action William Shatner, Blue Origin's vice president of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers, Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries into space.
New Shephard's NS-18 flight took nearly 11 minutes and once again crossed the Kármán Line, which is the internationally recognised border between the Earth and space.
As the 90-year-old made history by becoming the oldest man to fly to space, he quoted Sir Isaac Newton to mark his historic achievement. "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, diverting myself in now & then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me," his pre-scheduled tweet read.
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, diverting myself in now & then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.🚀 pic.twitter.com/ZY2Ka8ij7z
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) October 13, 2021
While the four astronauts were descending in the capsule, William Shatner was hard saying, "that was unlike anything they described."
After a comfortable descend at 16 mph / 26 km/h, the four civilian-astronauts landed in the West Texas desert at 1 mph / 1.6 km/h. The four new astronauts were greeted by the Founder of Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos, and their friends and families.
This mission marked the second successful crew launch of Blue Origin's all-civilian New Shephard rocket. The first successful all-civilian flight of Blue Origin had Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk and Oliver Daeman.
Three out of four astronauts sent out messages of strength, appreciation and motivation to the second crew. "You lucky bastards. It was only 10 weeks ago I was sitting where you are watching the countdown clock full of anticipation and excitement, eager to feel the rumble of liftoff and the majesty of weightlessness. The depth of my desire to fly again is hard to express," Jeff Bezos said.