The billionaire space race continues and this time they’re sending William Shatner.
Amazon executive Jeff Bezos has announced that the next Blue Origin flight will have actor William Shatner onboard alongside Blue Origin’s vice president, Audrey Powers, and flight operators Chris Boshuizen and Glen De Vries.
It will take 11 minutes to move past the internationally recognized boundary of space, the Kármán Line
Shatner, aged 90, is a very well-known actor who isn’t unfamiliar with space, or at least make-believe space. He has played Captain James T. Kirk on the iconic TV series Star Trek since the 1960s and also appeared in seven films from the franchise.
“I’ve heard about space for a long time now,” Shatner says in a CNN article, “I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.”
Shatner is also the host and producer of The UnXplained, a series on the History Channel that explores the unknown mysteries of space and extraterrestrial beings.