90-Year-Old William Shatner Sets Record As The Oldest Person To Go Into Space

Oct 14, 2021 by apost team

William Shatner is known for many roles he has played in his career as an actor, but nothing is as prominent as his character Captain James T Kirk from the Star Trek franchise. Millions of fans hail Shatner even today for bringing to life one of the most memorable and iconic characters in the Star Trek universe. Taking place in outer space, Star Trek continues to be one of the most beloved and celebrated televisions series of all time. 

It was therefore an incredible development that the man who played Captain Kirt went into outer space in real life, and in doing so, set a world record for being the oldest person ever to enter space! Shatner was part of a four-man group on the New Shepard rocket, which reached an altitude of roughly 350,000ft and a velocity of about 2,000mph. This allowed the people on board to experience the weightlessness of space and even allowed them to see the curvature of the Earth before they safely returned back to Texas on October 13, 2021.

This flight was momentous for many reasons; among others was that this was only the second time the relatively inexperienced people flew out to space. Shatner, who is still strong at the age of 90, has shown that age is something that will hold people back from achieving their lifelong goals, and that it is never too late to have a profound and life-changing experience. Certainly, Shatner's recall of his short time in space was filled with emotion and gratitude for the chance he got. 

"Everybody in the world needs to do this," the Canadian actor told Bezos after landing back on Earth according to BBC News. "It was unbelievable."

He was in tears due to this incredible event and added "What you have given me is the most profound experience. I'm so filled with emotion about what just happened. I hope I never recover from this. I hope I can retain what I feel now. I don't want to lose it."

The rocket that the four-man group took was the one developed by Jeff Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin, and was the same vehicle that took Bezos himself to space in the summer. The rocket and capsule system, known as New Shepard, is fully automatic.

The three others who joined Shatner included Audrey Powers, who is a Blue Origin vice president, Chris Boshuizen, who co-founded the Earth-imaging satellite company Planet and Glen de Vries, who is an executive with the French healthcare software corporation Dassault Systèmes.

CNN reported that this trip did not resemble the interplanetary exploration that Shatner captained during his acting career. In fact, New Shepard's flight lasted just ten minutes from takeoff to landing and gave the passengers about three minutes of weightlessness.The people taking the flight were given only a couple of days' training; all they had to do was to enjoy their experience.

Shatner's new record as the oldest person to fly to space takes over the record that was set just three months ago by 82-year-old Wally Funk, who was a former astronaut trainee. After previously being denied the opportunity to fly as an astronaut, she finally joined Bezos on his July flight into space and set her own record.

apost.com

We congratulate William Shatner for setting this new record! What do you think of this incredible development? Tell us your thoughts, and be sure to pass this news onto others as well.