After decades of pretending to explore the universe in TV shows and movies, William Shatner is actually going to space. Blue Origin’s second tourist spaceflight is scheduled for October 12th. The Star Trek actor and apparent Twitter verification gatekeeper will be one of New Shepard’s passengers.
Shatner, 90, is set to become the oldest person to fly to space. He’ll take the record from 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk, who was a passenger on New Shepard’s first crewed flight in July.
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Joining Shatner on the flight is Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers. The company previously announced Planet Labs co-founder Chris Boshuizen and Medidata co-founder Glen de Vries will be the other passengers. It’s the second of three launches Blue Origin has planned for this year.
The next New Shepard flight will take place after the Federal Aviation Administration said it’s looking into safety concerns current and former employees flagged in a joint essay last week. Alongside allegations of sexual harassment and attempts to silence internal critics, the group said the company “is not sufficiently attuned to safety concerns.” According to CNBC, Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith told employees the company “went through a methodical and pain-staking process to certify” New Shepard and that “anyone that claims otherwise is uninformed and simply incorrect.”
