Needless to say, the safe launch, orbits, and landing of the all-civilian SpaceX Inspiration4 crew was a thrilling and important moment in space history. SpaceX founder Elon Musk has been riding high on a slew of recent successes.
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos clearly would like some of the attention and acclaim Musk is getting. So, his team has persuaded William Shatner (the legendary Captain James T. Kirk of the original Star Trek series) to launch into space for real in Bezos’ New Shepard rocket.
Bezos’ galaxy rider is made by his space-travel company, Blue Origin.Shatner would be the oldest person ever to travel to space with this historic ride, TMZ reported.The Canada native’s 15-minute flight will occur sometime in October. The outlet also reported that the mission will be filmed for an upcoming documentary featuring the actor who played Capt. James T. Kirk on the iconic series.
Shatner had several comments about the Blue Origin launch in July, which was a 15-minute suborbital flight.
‘I know there is an argument to be made about popularizing space travel, and I’ve talked to a lot of travelers to space who are excited to get to Mars,’ he told NBC.The actor mentioned Bezos’ mission to Mars but called it ‘ridiculous.”It takes a year and a half to get there. People will think it’s like we’re on a trip, on a cruise line. No, man! You’re in zero gravity and it’s hotter than hell and the air is putrid. ‘Help me, I’m dying, but I’m dying slowly!’ What a terrible fate.’He also noted the danger of space travel.’If you basically have a flat tire in space, it means you die. It seems to me you’re more likely to die there than on the Hollywood Freeway.’But Shatner ended discussing his perspective on morality [sic].’You know, at my age, you’re constantly aware of mortality. Any moment of, ‘Oh, I’m a little dizzy. Am I dying?’ It’s an interesting question.’
Shatner has expressed an interest in going into space several times, including at a recent Comic-Con panel.
During a panel discussion entitled “Back to the Moon and Beyond With NASA” at San Diego Comic-Con, Shatner also hinted at the possibility of going on a commercial suborbital spaceflight in the future.”There’s a possibility that I’m going to go up for a brief moment and come back down,” Shatner said. However, he cited a history of terrible accidents like the “O-ring thing” as his main apprehension holding him back from fulfilling his astronaut aspirations. The “O-Ring” is a rocket booster seal which was found to have failed during the 1986 Challenger mission, which resulted in a fiery explosion that killed seven astronauts.NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, who was also on the Comic-Con panel, assured Shatner that the agency takes safety very seriously, and has applied the lessons learned from previous mishaps to future missions.”Our systems are much safer and much more technologically advanced than in the past,” NASA astronaut Nicole Mann added.
This will be a new version of Star Trek that I will be very happy to watch! Whatever he wears aboard the New Shepard, it must not include a red shirt.
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