William Shatner at the age of 90 has become the oldest person to go to space. Famous for playing the role of James T. Kirk, captain of the Starship Enterprise in the Star Trek universe, Shatner blasted into space onboard Blue Origin New Shepard rocket on Wednesday with an all-civilian crew.
The Blue Origin rocket successfully landed in Texas after reaching the edge of space, as it flew to an altitude of 66 miles.
Shatner broke Wally Funk’s record, the 82-year-old aviation pioneer had set the age record just a few months earlier.
The NS-18 mission was originally scheduled to fly on Tuesday, but Blue Origin decided on Sunday to delay the launch due to forecasted high winds.
Blue Origin founder, Jeff Bezos, was on the ground to greet the crew as they got off-board the crew capsule on the valley floor of Texas desert.
Shatner was full of praise for Bezos and during an emotional moment said, “What you have given me is the most profound experience… I’m so filled with emotion about what just happened. It’s extraordinary. I hope I never recover from this.”
Blue Origin is hosting its second crewed flight ever, after its first flight of a New Shepard rocket after launch on July 20, carried company founder Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk and student Oliver Daemen on a quick trip to space.
A music icon with 10 albums to his credit, Shatner plans to write a song on his experience for his next album.
In an interview post to Twitter, he said, “I want to write about my love of Earth.”
