Photo by: Blue Origin/Twitter

Blue Origin/Twitter

William Shatner Becomes Oldest Man to Travel to Space After Successful Blue Origin Space Flight

By: Discovery

On the morning of October 13, William Shatner joined the crew of New Shepard for its second crewed flight, NS-18. Due to a few holds, the scheduled 10A liftoff was delayed by about 50 minutes from Blue Origin's Launch Site One in Texas. Despite the delays, liftoff and touchdown went off without a hitch, making Star Trek star William Shatner the oldest man to go to space.

October 13, 2021

After a few delays this morning, William Shatner has gone where no 90 year old has gone before. Joined by Chris Boshuizen (a former NASA engineer and co-founder of satellite company Planet Labs,) Glen de Vries (the co-founder of software company Medidata and vice chair of life sciences at a French software company) and Audrey Powers, (Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations), congrats to the NS-18 crew and Blue Origin on a successful mission!

NS-18 Space Flight Photos

The flight lasted about 11 minutes as the crew of NS-18 travel beyond the Kármán Line, 62 miles above the Earth. Also onboard NS-18, were thousands of postcards from students from around the world featuring inspirational messages about inventing the future of life in space.

Here's everything that happened this morning.

Shatner’s inclusion on the spaceflight is fitting, as he spent much of his career portraying the commander of a starship in his role as Captain Kirk in the original “Star Trek” television series, along with seven feature films.

Next Up

Scientists Watch as Stars Quake

The European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft has managed to watch stars tremble, their light subtly changing as starquakes ripple through their surfaces. Which is pretty cool, because Gaia wasn’t even designed to do it.

A Guide to Defending the Earth

Let’s say one day astronomers announce that our worst nightmare has come true: a large object is headed towards the Earth with a significant chance of impact. What do we do?

Sing Along to the Shark Week Song

Listen to the first official Shark Week song and catch all the action July 26 through August 1 on Discovery!

Investigate the Mind of a Shark on 'How to Train a Great White'

See how these apex predators actually think. Will they completely transform our understanding of their intelligence?

'My Strange Shark Addiction' Is Coming to Shark Week 2026

Meet the most shark-obsessed "fin-atics" around and take a plunge into their wild fascinations on "My Strange Shark Addiction." Learn all about the new special here!

Why We Know Nothing about Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Welcome to the era of precision cosmology…where we’ve managed to very precisely measure everything we don't know about the universe.

An Astronomical Review of “Don’t Look Up”

In our annual New Year’s family tradition of struggling to stay awake until midnight, we decided to watch “Don’t Look Up,” the Adam McKay satire starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, and other fabulously good-looking people.

Watch Ken Jeong & Rei Ami Make a Splash on 'K-Pop Shark Heroes'

They'll use the power of K-Pop to change the way we view sharks forever!

Shark Week: The Podcast - How Did a Shark Encounter Survivor Become an Advocate for Their Protection?

Shark Week’s Luke Tipple welcomes professional photographer Mike Coots, who lost his leg to a tiger shark attack when he was only 18. But after his horrific injury, he came to love sharks, and became a lifelong advocate for their safety. Luke and Mike discuss his career, his love for photographing sharks, and how to positively approach the big life-changing moments that can happen to any of us.

Related To: