William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek, will have to wait one more day to get to space. The final frontier, delayed for Shatner, is due to forecasted wind conditions at the site one location in west Texas. Instead, Blue Origins’ New Shepard, will now be scheduled for 9:30am EST on Wednesday October 13th with coverage beginning at 8:00am EST. Shatner will be joined by Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations; Glen de Vries, a co-founder of the medical research platform Medidata Solutions; and Chris Boshuizen, a NASA researcher turned tech entrepreneur.
Captain Kirk Admits That He’s Terrified
Shatner was asked about his upcoming launch on Thursday at the New York Comic-Con and he said that he was terrified. He solidified this fear when he said he had asked the people in charge of the flight, about his concerns and brought up the Challenger tragedy from 1986. Shatner stated that the flight operators said everything should be fine. Shatner was not comforted by that response.
“And I’m thinking, ‘I’m going up in a rocket and our best guess is it should be fine? I’m terrified. I’m Captain Kirk, and I’m terrified. I’m not really terrified — yes I am. It comes and goes like a summer cold. I’m planning on putting my nose against the window [once I’m in space], and my only hope is I won’t see someone else looking back.”
Maybe he’s referring to the Goblin he saw on a planes wing from the ‘Nightmare at 20,000 feet’ episode of the ‘Twilight Zone’? Shatner also commented on the flight when asked about it during an interview on the ‘Today’ show last week.
“I’m going to see the vastness of space and the extraordinary miracle of our Earth and how fragile it is compared to the forces at work in the universe. That’s really what I’m looking for.”
So, we’ll have to wait one more day, but the wait will be worth it. In a Twitter post, from Jeff Bezos’ Aerospace company Blue Origin, Shatner looked in very good spirits and excited as he awaited the upcoming launch.
Astronaut @WilliamShatner has arrived to Astronaut Village. West Texas looks good on you, Captain, welcome! pic.twitter.com/84cYkTdOIV
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) October 10, 2021
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