William Shatner is on the next Blue Origin flight to space

Blue Origin has announced former Star Trek actor William Shatner will be one of the crewmates on the agency’s next scheduled flight to space.

New Shepard will take off on its 18th mission from the agency’s Launch Site One in West Texas on 12 October.

At 90 years old, Shatner will be the oldest person to fly to space.

“I’ve heard about space for a long time now,”  he said in a statement.

“I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.”

Captain Kirk to travel to the final frontier

Shatner is most well-known for his role as Captain James T. Kirk in the 1966 sci-fi series, Star Trek.

He also starred in seven of the Star Trek movies, the fifth instalment of which he also directed in 1989.

In addition to the franchise, he has starred in other shows such as Boston Legal and 3rd Rock from the Sun, and movies such as Miss Congeniality and Osmosis Jones.

Shatner will be joined on the flight by Blue Origin’s Vice President of Mission and Flight Operations, Audrey Powers.

“I’m so proud and humbled to fly on behalf of Team Blue, and I’m excited to continue writing Blue’s human spaceflight history,” Powers said.

“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’ve developed.”

The launch on 12 October comes months after Blue Origin’s first successful flight on 20 July. The flight’s crew included the agency’s included the agency’s founder, Jeff Bezos, and his brother Mark.

It is one of two crewed flights planned for 2021. The agency is planning to launch more passenger flights in 2022.

The rest of the New Shepard NS-18 crew will include Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries.

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Featured image: Blue Origin