Site MapWilliam Shatner, At 90 Years Old, Is Going To Space
Star Trek is real, folks
It seems as if William Shatner will boldly go where several men have gone before – space, the final frontier. TMZ reported that Shatner has a seat on an October flight of Blue Origin's new Shepard Rocket. The civilian flight will last 15-minutes, just like the flight earlier this year which took Bezos himself into space.
The flight would make Shatner the oldest person in space. In some ways, he’s perpetually frozen in time as the youthful and virile Captain Kirk, but the actor turned (possible) astronaut is currently a spry 90. Shatner would beat out test pilot Wally Funk, who currently holds the record of oldest person in space when she was blasted into orbit aboard Bezos’s July Blue Origin flight. Funk was (and still is – she’s fine, folks) 82-years-old when she finally achieved her life-long goal of going into space – so never give up on your dreams, kids!
Prior to Funk, John Glenn held the record for oldest person in space when he went up into orbit in 1998. The first American to orbit the Earth was shot up into space again at 77 aboard the space shuttle Discovery. Glenn was part of a NASA mission to study health problems associated with aging. In case you’re wondering, NASA has no official age restrictions for astronaut candidates, so feel free to dream of climbing into a rocket in your golden years into a rock and shooting off into the sky. However, most candidates have been between 26 and 46, with the average age being 34. And, yes, Glenn was completely fine after completing his round trip to space.
Shatner’s interest in space extends above and beyond Star Trek. It seems as if it’s been on his vision board for a while. Last year, Shatner faked it before he maked it by photoshopping an image of himself in a spacesuit and tweeting it at NASA. “Just in case; the suit does fit!” the multi-hyphenate joked while asking if he could join the SpaceX Crew Dragon-2 commercial spaceflight to the International Space Station.
It’s rumored that the rumored flight will be part of a documentary, however, it’s not 100% verified that Shatner, indeed, will be heading to space. The flight is rumored to take place in October, so we’ll find out soon enough. However, Shatner did tease the potential flight at the 2020 San Diego Comic-Con. “There’s a possibility that I’m going to go up for a brief moment and come back down,” he said during the Back to the Moon and Beyond With NASA" panel.
If Shatner does go to space in earnest, it won’t be the first time an actor’s life imitated their art, however, it will be the coolest time. Who knows what other Star Trek alumni will follow suit? We’re looking at you, Picard!
