Beam me up, Jeffery: William Shatner goes to space
Captain Kirk will boldly go where no actor has gone before
Last updated 13th Oct 2021
Star Trek's Captain Kirk, William Shatner, is due to blast off on a real life journey into space with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space travel company.
Captain Kirk will fly with Bezos' space travel company, Blue Origin, from West Texas with a 3:30PM lift-off.
The iconic captain will be accompanied by Blue Origin vice president Audrey Powers and two other paying customers as part of Blue Origin's second launch.
Shatner played the role of the USS Starship Enterprise's commander for three seasons, from 1966 to 1969. He also portrayed Captain Kirk in seven movies, directing one of them.
Mr Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is a huge fan of the sci-fi series and even had a cameo as a high-ranking alien in the 2016 film Star Trek Beyond. His rocket company invited Shatner to fly as its guest, and at the age of 90, Shatner will become the oldest person in space.
Shatner tweeted: 'Yes, it's true; I'm going to be a 'rocket man!'
He added: 'It's never too late to experience new things.'
He would have been the first actor in space if Russia was not launching an actress and a film director to the International Space Station on Tuesday for almost two weeks of moviemaking.
Shatner's flight, by comparison, will last just 10 minutes and reach no higher than about 66 miles. The capsule will parachute back to the desert floor, not far from where it took off.
The flight was originally due to take off yesterday, but was postponed due to "forecasted winds".
Mr Bezos was on the debut flight in July, along with his brother and the youngest and oldest to fly in space. Shatner will break that upper threshold by eight years.
Watch the take-off as it happens:
What is Space tourism?
With flights short or long, space tourism is picking up steam fast.
Virgin Galactic carried founder Richard Branson to the edge of space with five others in July, followed nine days later by Mr Bezos' space trip.
Elon Musk's SpaceX, meanwhile, launched its first private crew last month - a Pennsylvania entrepreneur who bought the three-day flight and took along two contest winners and a cancer survivor.
Virgin Galactic's ship launches from an airplane and requires two pilots. Blue Origin and SpaceX's capsules are fully automated, but the passengers must pass medical screenings and, among other things, be able to quickly climb several flights of steps at the launch tower to get to the capsule - or out of it in an emergency.