After years playing the role of the Captain Kirk of star ship USS Enterprise in the popular Star Trek franchise, which travels across galaxies, finally William Shatner who essayed the part, is going to experience a real life space odyssey.
Yes, you heard it right as Shatner, according to a report by tmz.com, will be going to space as part of Jeff Bezos’ rocket ship.
The 90-year-old actor is slated to be part of the second crew that will take the space flight in the New Shepard capsule. This will make Shatner the oldest person ever to be launched into space.
The report also states that it is learnt that Shatner will be on board in October for the 15-minute civilian flight — similar to the last launch. It goes on to wonder if Shatner will be wearing his Captain Kirk get-up.
A trained Shakespearean actor, Shatner performed in several movies and plays. He played Captain Kirk in the television series Star Trek from 1966 to 1969. He and the other original cast members returned to their roles when Paramount produced “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” in 1979. He continued to play Kirk in the next six films, ending with the character’s death In 1994 film “Star Trek Generations”.
A documentary of this mission is also planned as per the report and it is said as the talks for the special programme did not materialise with Discovery, negotiations are on with others.
The team Shatner will be joining for the space flight has not been revealed so far but the report speculates that it is sure to be an elite company. In the first flight in which Bezos went he was accompanied by his brother Mark Bezos, test pilot Wally Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen.
The flight reached at an altitude of 66.5 miles, stayed up for a few minutes and then came back to land safely.
The write-up also wondered as to who is paying for Shatner to be onboard New Shepard. In The Blue Origin’s first flight the final civilian seat in an auction went up to more than $20 million, with Daemen getting it and becoming the youngest person ever to travel in space. Incidentally, his father, Joes, the founder of and president of Somerset Capital Partners, is super rich and had won the seat but he let his son become the passenger.
