So, it is official. We have a date and an announcement, from Jeff Bezos’ space travel company Blue Origin, that William Shatner will indeed be going to space. October 12th is the date and 9:30am EST is the time that William Shatner AKA Captain Kirk, along with Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations, and crewmates Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries will be traveling to space aboard the New Shepard NS-18. This will be the 18th mission of New Shepard and will launch from site one in West Texas. Full coverage will begin 90 minutes prior and I can’t wait for this historic moment of epic proportions. This will be a sight to behold as fans of William Shatner get to see the man, that embodied a hero for generations in Captain Kirk, boldly go where no 90 year old has gone before.
A New Generation Of Fans Will Dream of Doing the Impossible
In a much anticipated statement from Shatner, he stated that he’s heard about space for a long time and wanted to take the opportunity to see it for himself.
“I’ve heard about space for a long time now. I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.”
I can only imagine how exciting this is for Shatner who helmed the Starship Enterprise in the original five year mission on TV from 1966-1969 and then
the consequent cartoon series and movies. This is also a win win for Jeff Bezos, who can only benefit from the free publicity of the Captain of the fictional Enterprise going into space for the first time. It will be a moment in history that everyone will remember and might possibly ignite a new generation of science fiction fans that can dream of actually doing the impossible. It would be nice to see if William Shatner will say his iconic opening from the original Star Trek series. The trip is only 15 minutes in length, but I think that would cap off an extraordinary event that will see fans cheering all across the world, and unite us for one brief moment in this crazy world we are living in now.
Related: Where No 90 Year Old Has Gone Before
