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William Shatner describes space travel in new book “Boldly Go”

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Astronauts have for decades described their trips to space as “breathtaking” and humbling, a reminder of the Earth’s fragility and humanity’s need to serve as stewards of our home planet.

Actor William Shatner, who joined a suborbital space tourism flight last year, experienced the same phenomenon, but he had a very distinct observation when he turned his gaze from the Earth to black expanse of the cosmos: “All I saw was death,” he wrote in a new book.

Shatner’s biography, called “Boldly Go,” which he co-wrote with TV and film writer Joshua Brandon, is filled with similarly grim anecdotes about Shatner’s experience bolting above the Earth’s atmosphere aboard a real-life rocket after his memorable stint playing a spaceship captain on the 1960s TV show “Star Trek” and several franchise movies in the following decades.

“I saw a cold, dark, black emptiness. It was unlike any blackness you can see or feel on Earth. It was deep, enveloping, all-encompassing. I turned back toward the light of home. I could see the curvature of Earth, the beige of the desert, the white of the clouds and the blue of the sky. It was life. Nurturing, sustaining, life. Mother Earth. Gaia. And I was leaving her,” reads an excerpt from “Boldly Go” that was first published by Variety.

“Everything I had thought was wrong,” it reads. “Everything I had expected to see was wrong.”

While he had expected to be awed at the vision of the cosmos, seen without the filter of the Earth’s atmosphere, he instead became overwhelmed by the idea that humans are slowly destroying our home planet. He felt one of the strongest feelings of grief he’s ever encountered, Shatner wrote.

Shatner’s book was released October 4 by publishing house Simon & Schuster. CNN interviewed him in June about the book, his trip to space with the Jeff Bezos-backed space tourism company Blue Origin, and what’s next for the 91-year-old. A transcript of the interview, edited for length and clarity, is below.

CNN: We all saw how emotional you were when you stepped out of the Blue Origin spacecraft after landing. How did that experience change you?

William Shatner: Fifty-five or 60 years ago I read a book called “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson. She wrote about the environmental issues that are still happening today. I’ve been a verbal ecologist since then. I’ve been aware of the changing Earth and my apprehension for all of us.

It’s like somebody owing money on a mortgage, and they don’t have the payments. And they think, “Oh, well, let’s go to dinner and not think about it.”

But it’s so omnipresent! The possibilities of an apocalypse are so real. It’s hard to convince people — and especially certain political people — that this is not on our doorstep any longer. It’s in the house.

When I got up to space, I wanted to get to the window to see what it was that was out there. I looked at the blackness of space. There were no dazzling lights. It was just palpable blackness. I believed I saw death.

And then I looked back at the Earth. Given my background and having read a lot of things about the evolution of Earth over 5 billion years and how all the beauty of nature has evolved, I thought about how we’re killing everything.

I felt this overwhelming sadness for the Earth.

I didn’t realize it until I got down. When I stepped out of the spacecraft, I started crying. I didn’t know why. It took me hours to understand why I was weeping. I realized I was in grief for the Earth.

I don’t want to ever forget, nor have I forgotten, the momentousness of that occasion.

CNN: What else have you realized about the experience in the months since you took your spaceflight?

Shatner: I had an awareness that human beings may be the only species alive on this planet that is aware of the enormity and the majesty of the universe.

Think about what we’ve discovered in just the last 100 years given the 200,000 years that humans have existed. We’ve discovered how mountains have formed, the Big Bang. And I kept thinking about how mankind is evolving rapidly into a knowledgeable creature at the same time it’s killing itself.

It’s a race.

CNN: Space tourism companies such as Blue Origin have also received a lot of criticism from people who view those efforts as more of a vanity project for wealthy individuals rather than something that can be truly transformational. How do you respond to that criticism?

Shatner: The whole idea here is to get people accustomed to going to space, as if it’s like going to the Riviera. It’s not only a vanity – it’s a business.

But what Jeff Bezos wants to do and what is slowly accruing because of our familiarity with space is get those polluting industries up into orbit and get the earth back to what it was. (Editor’s note: Bezos has routinely talked about moving heavy industries into orbit to help preserve the Earth, and that idea also has its skeptics and critics.)

CNN: What do you think about the ‘astronaut’ title. Are people who pay for brief, suborbital flights to space astronauts?

Shatner: I call them half astronauts.

CNN: What should we be doing in space next?

Shatner: The ability to go to Mars which is lurking in the background, which I think that should take a backseat to going to the moon, setting up the moon as a base and mining whatever the moon has to offer, rather than mining it here.

Those are just my own opinions. What’s-his-name would not agree. He wants to go to Mars. (Editor’s note: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk founded his company with the goal of setting up a colony on Mars.)

CNN: Are you are you anxious to go back to space?

Shatner: If you had a great love affair, could you go back? Or would that demean it?

CNN: You mentioned you got a chance to speak with famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking before he died. What was that experience like?

Shatner: I was never able to ask him about String Theory, which I wanted to. We had to get him all the questions in advance. And he had said when we made the arrangement, ‘I want to ask Shatner a question.’

Finally, I’m leaning in, you know, we’re sitting side by side looking at the cameras.

So he laboriously typed out, ‘What is your favorite Star Trek episode?’ which is the question every fan asks, and I started laughing. He didn’t have the ability to laugh (because of his degenerative disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS).

But his laughter showed in the redness of his face and he got so red. He then invited me to dinner. I had a beautiful moment with him.

CNN: What are you doing next?

Shatner: I should take the opportunity to say I have an album out there called “Bill.” And I kept making songs with my collaborators. The song “So Fragile, So Blue,” is very much about my experience in space. I recently performed with (musician) Ben Folds at the Kennedy Center. That could be a TV show or an album.

I also have a really wonderful show called “The UnXplained” on the on the History Channel.

And then I have my book, called “Boldly Go,” coming out in the fall.

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Entertainment

William Shatner reflects on fallout with ‘Star Trek’ pal Leonard Nimoy, historic kiss with Nichelle Nichols

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William Shatner doesn’t know what happened between him and his beloved “Star Trek” co-star Leonard Nimoy.

The actor, who famously played the pointy-eared half-human, half-Vulcan officer Mr. Spock in the ‘60s sci-fi series, passed away in 2015 at age 83. His son, Adam Nimoy, announced that the star died of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at his Los Angeles home with family at his side.

Shatner, recognized by fans as Captain Kirk, recently wrote a book titled “Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder.” In it, the actor candidly reflected on his decades-long friendship with Nimoy, and how it seemingly went sour.

Shatner admitted to Fox News Digital that he still doesn’t understand what went wrong.

WILLIAM SHATNER EXPLAINS WHY HIS TRIP TO SPACE ‘FELT LIKE A FUNERAL’: ‘I SAW DEATH AND I SAW LIFE’

From left: Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock and William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk in the ‘Star Trek’ episode titled ‘Spock’s Brain.’ It aired on September 20, 1968.
(Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

“Not knowing was part of the hurt,” the 91-year-old explained. “Leonard and I knew each other for 50 years. We were brothers. He was the brother I never had. And we were in each other’s domain again and again… We were really good friends. And then something… happened. I never found out. But in the last six months of his life, he wouldn’t connect with me. I wrote him. [I told him] I loved him. And I knew he was very sick. He was dying.”

Shatner claimed that during the final months of Nimoy’s life, he didn’t answer his calls. A reason was never given, which made his loss all the more painful.

But a few years later, Nimoy’s daughter reached out to Shatner.

“She must have heard about how pained I was,” said Shatner. “And she said, ‘You know, he loved you.’ And that made me feel a lot better.”

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William Shatner (right) said he’s grateful to have had a decades-long friendship with his ‘Star Trek’ co-star Leonard Nimoy (left).
(Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)

In 2016, Shatner told The Hollywood Reporter he wondered if Nimoy’s refusal to participate in a film he was making prompted the silence.

“I thought [Leonard] was joking at first and treated it as a joke because he sometimes would pretend and say, ‘No, I’m not going to do that’ and then say, ‘yes,’ so that’s what I thought he did,” Shatner said at the time. “But that time he really meant, no. … I just don’t know, and it is sad, and it is permanent. I don’t know why he stopped talking to me.”

A year before his death, Nimoy took to Twitter and announced he had pulmonary disease. Nimoy linked it to smoking, a habit he said he quit 30 years before. In January 2015, a month before he passed, Nimoy tweeted: “Don’t smoke. I did. Wish I never had.”

His final public statement on Twitter, made shortly before his death, was thoughtful, yet bittersweet.

WILLIAM SHATNER SHARES TOUCHING LEONARD NIMOY MEMORY, EXPLAINS WHY HE’S TAKING ON ‘THE UNXPLAINED’

Leonard Nimoy (seen here in 1982’s ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’ with William Shatner) passed away in 2015. He was 83.
(Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory,” he wrote, followed by his customary “LLAP” signoff — shorthand for “Live long and prosper,” Spock’s catchphrase.

Shatner knows exactly what he would tell his pal if they were sitting down together today.

“Well, I wrote him a note, shortly before he died,” said Shatner. “I don’t think he read it. Never got a response from this heartfelt note, but I would say to him what I wrote in the note. ‘Hey, my God, you are my friend. If I’ve done anything wrong, tell me about it because I love you. And I value our friendship. Why don’t you tell me what I did? I won’t do it again.’ That opportunity never existed, but that’s what I would say to him.”

Most recently, the surviving “Star Trek” cast has endured another devastating loss. Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood as communications officer Lt. Uhura died in August of this year. She was 89.

‘STAR TREK’ ICON NICHELLE NICHOLS’ ASHES TO LAUNCH INTO SPACE, SON KYLE CALLS ENTERPRISE MISSION ‘GREAT HONOR’

Nichelle Nichols played Lt. Nyota Uhura in ‘Star Trek’.
(Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

The original “Star Trek” premiered on NBC on Sept. 8, 1966. Its multicultural, multiracial cast was creator Gene Roddenberry’s message to viewers that in the far-off future — the 23rd century — human diversity would be fully accepted.

During the show’s third season, Nichols’ character and Shatner’s Kirk shared what was described as the first interracial kiss to be broadcast on a U.S. television series. In the episode, “Plato’s Stepchildren,” their characters, who always maintained a platonic relationship, were forced into the kiss by aliens who were controlling their actions.

Worried about the reaction from Southern TV viewers, showrunners wanted to film a second take of the scene where the kiss happened off-screen. But Nichols said in her book, “Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories,” that she and Shatner deliberately flubbed lines to force the original take to be used.

Despite concerns, the episode aired without blowback. In fact, it got the most “fan mail that Paramount had ever gotten on ‘Star Trek’ for one episode,” Nichols said in a 2010 interview with the Archive of American Television.

‘STAR TREK’ ACTRESS NICHELLE NICHOLS DEAD AT 89

Nichelle Nichols as Uhura and William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk in the ‘Star Trek’ episode ‘Plato’s Stepchildren’. The episode aired on November 22, 1968.
(Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

Shatner said he still has fond memories of bringing that scene to life.

“Well, from my personal point of view, it’s overwrought,” he explained. “There was this beautiful woman, and it was written in that I kissed her. And so, I kissed her, and it was a lovely… I enjoyed the experience very much. You’re kissing somebody, and it’s great. We both enjoyed it. And then the fallout of Black and white – she’s a beautiful lady. She was a beautiful lady. And the fact that some television stations in the South didn’t play that episode the first time around – it’s different now.”

“So yes, if you’re involved in that world of, there was a step forward there,’ I’m with you,” he shared. “But from my point of view, it was two actors having a nice afternoon.”

Shatner has led a successful decades-long career with hit shows, such as “The Defenders,” “T.J. Hooker” and “Boston Legal.” But in his book, he reflects on life and death. He also detailed his experience being the oldest man to ever travel to space at age 90. That journey took place in 2021. The aerial adventure was made possible by billionaire Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin. The Amazon empire founder credits “Star Trek” with igniting his interest in space travel.

WILLIAM SHATNER SHARES PROFOUND WORDS AFTER SUCCESSFUL BLUE ORIGIN FLIGHT: ‘I HOPE I NEVER RECOVER FROM THIS’

‘Star Trek actor William Shatner (R) gestures as Planet Labs co-founder Chris Boshuizen looks on at the landing pad of Blue Origin’s New Shepard after they flew into space on October 13, 2021.
(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

While aging doesn’t always make it easy, Shatner is determined to continue pursuing his passions.

“My shoulders hurt,” he said. “I can’t run like I did. I’m hesitating to go scuba diving – I love scuba diving. I scuba-dived for many, many years in various places. [But] the last time I was scuba diving, I sort of ran out of breath. And that scared me. I don’t know whether I can go scuba diving anymore. So what can I do? Ride horses and work out in the pool. It’s what I do.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Stephanie Nolasco covers entertainment at Foxnews.com.

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Glen De Vries, Who Flew To Space With William Shatner, Dies In Plane Crash – Deadline

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Glen de Vries, the 49-year-old entrepreneur who flew to space with actor William Shatner last month aboard a flight launched by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, died Thursday in a small-plane crash in New Jersey.

A statement tweeted by Blue Origin said, “We are devastated to hear of the sudden passing of Glen de Vries. He brought so much life and energy to the entire Blue Origin team and to his fellow crewmates. His passion for aviation, his charitable work, and his dedication to his craft will long be revered and admired.”

The crash of the single-engine Cessna 172 occurred yesterday afternoon near a New Jersey state park in Lake Kemah, Hampton Township. The identities of the two fatalities – de Vries and New Jersey aviation company owner Thomas Fischer – were disclosed by New Jersey State Police today.

De Vries was a vice chairman of life sciences and healthcare at Dassault Systèmes, parent corporation of the technology company, Medidata Solutions, co-founded by de Vries.

“Our thoughts and support go out to Glen’s family,” said the New York-based Dassault Systèmes in a statement, adding that de Vries’ “tireless energy, empathy and pioneering spirit left their mark on everyone who knew him. We will truly miss Glen, but his dreams — which we share — live on: we will pursue progress in life sciences & healthcare as passionately as he did.”

The four-seat Cessna crashed around 4 p.m. ET Thursday in a wooded area 40 miles northwest of New York City. Investigators have not yet identified which of the two men was piloting; de Vries was an instrument-rated private pilot, and Fischer owned the Fischer Aviation flight school.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

The Star Trek actor has not yet commented on de Vries’ death.

 



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Entertainment

Halloween Series Movies: All 11 Ranked

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Just three years after the B-movie flailings of The Curse of Michael Myers, slasher movies were cool again thanks to box office sensations like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. There’s a technical polish (and no doubt a budget increase) that elevates Halloween H20; it’s directed by horror veteran Steve Miner (Friday the 13th Part 2 and Part III) and boasts an incredible cast capped by Jamie Lee Curtis’s return as Laurie Strode. For the O.G. horror fans, there’s also Nancy Stephens as Dr. Loomis’ longtime nurse, Marion Chambers, who appears in the first two Halloween movies, and a cheery supporting turn by Curtis’ mother, Psycho star Janet Leigh. For fans of late-1990s pop culture, you also get LL Cool J, Adam Arkin, Josh Hartnett, Michelle Williams, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

H20‘s story retcon wipes away the previous three films, though it does keep the detail that Laurie “died” in a car accident—a cover story so that she can conceal her identity as a survivor of the infamous Halloween massacre, as well as hide her location from you-know-who. Laurie’s PTSD is explored here in a completely different way than in the 2018 Halloween; she has violent nightmares and is tenuously holding it together with the help of a semi-secret booze problem and a cabinet stuffed full of prescription meds. But she’s also the well-liked headmaster of a boarding school and is mostly functional in her relationships, though her 17-year-old son (Hartnett) thinks she’s way too strict.

When Michael materializes—the movie never specifies, but apparently he’s just been on the loose for 20 years—his showdown with his long-lost sister is an appropriately epic mano-a-mano that takes up way more screen time than their brawl in 2018’s Halloween. And though there are more Halloween installments after H20, the movie ends on a sense of finality that feels extremely satisfying in the moment.

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Entertainment

William Shatner claps back at George Takei’s body-shaming comments following Blue Origin flight: ‘Don’t hate’

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William Shatner had a sassy response to his “Star Trek co-star George Takei, who mocked the 90-year-old actor’s body shape amid his historic flight to space this week.

Taking to Twitter on Friday night, Shatner accused Takei of only becoming relevant when he name-checks him.

“Don’t hate George. The only time he gets press is when he talks bad about me,” Shatner’s tweet reads.

It continues: “He claims 50+ years ago I took away a camera angle that denied him 30 more seconds of prime time TV. I’m giving it back to him now by letting him spew his hatred for the world to see! Bill the [pig emoji].”

The latest development took place this week when Takei mocked Shatner’s fitness amid his flight on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. 

“He’s boldly going where other people have gone before,” snarked Takei, 84, to Page Six when asked about Shatner making history as the oldest person to ever go to space.

“He’s a guinea pig, 90 years old and it’s important to find out what happens,” Takei added while at the opening of “Thoughts of a Colored Man” on Wednesday night. 

“So 90 years old is going to show a great deal more on the wear and tear on the human body, so he’ll be a good specimen to study. Although he’s not the fittest specimen of 90 years old, so he’ll be a specimen that’s unfit!” 

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The actors have famously feuded for years in the public arena. Takei has accused Shatner of ignoring him on set as well as changing up the script for “Star Trek V” so that Takei’s character would not receive command of a spaceship.

The two ‘Star Trek’ stars have famously squabbled for years.
(Mario Tama/Tommaso Boddi)

Takei has also slammed the “T.J. Hooker” star as “very self-centered.” 

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Blue Origin vice president of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers (L) walks with Star Trek actor William Shatner to a media availability on the landing pad of Blue Origin’s New Shepard after they flew into space on October 13, 2021 near Van Horn, Texas. 
(Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Shatner has taken shots at Takei too. He once claimed there’s something Takei is “festering, and it makes him unhappy that he takes it out on me.” He called Takei’s public lambasting of him “sad.”

The 90-year-old actor joined Blue Origin Vice President of New Shepard Mission and Flight Operations Audrey Powers as well as Dr. Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries as they blasted off on the aerospace company’s latest suborbital spaceflight on Wednesday. 

Fox News’ Tyler McCarthy contributed to this report.

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Business

‘Something unbelievable’: See William Shatner get emotional about trip to space

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In the world of marketing, few things are more valuable than a truly satisfied customer, and that’s exactly what Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin appear to have in William Shatner following the 90-year-old actor’s brief trip to space on Wednesday. 

As James T. Kirk on Star Trek, Shatner could often be contemplative and even profound at times. Of course, those lines were scripted by Gene Roddenberry and a host of writers over the years. But Shatner’s own words during his few minutes of weightlessness and upon return to Earth are among some of the most poignant delivered by a human visitor to space, made all the more wondrous when delivered in his trademark halting cadence.

“Weightlessness, oh Jesus!” Shatner is heard exclaiming in the above video as the New Shepard crew capsule crosses the Karman Line, the conventional divider between Earth’s atmosphere and space.

“No description can equal this, weightlessness… oh my god. Oh wow. Oh, I’m telling you. Oh my goodness me, oh wow, I can’t believe this.”

Shatner enjoying the view of a lifetime.


Blue Origin

Not exactly poetry, but the earnest reaction of a man totally dumbfounded by a life-changing experience after nine decades of life is a wonderful thing to witness. While his crew mates float and flip around the capsule with a kind of giddy delight, Shatner appears to spend most of the flight totally awestruck and admiring the view. 

Once back on solid ground, after the champagne was sprayed on the desert floor, Shatner was able to begin gathering his words in conversation with Blue Origin and Amazon founder Bezos. You can watch the exchange at the 2:56 mark in the video below. 

“What you have built, everyone in the world needs to do this,” Shatner tells Bezos. “Everybody in the world needs to see…” he trails off as he gets choked up. 

“The covering of blue, the sheet, this blanket, this comforter of blue that we have around us, we think, oh that’s blue sky, and then suddenly you shoot through it all of a sudden as if you were to whip a sheet off of you when you’re asleep and you’re looking at the blackness… into black ugliness. And you look down and there’s the blue down there and the black up there and it’s just … there (below) is mother Earth and comfort and there (up, in space) is… is there death? I don’t know, is that how death is? Whoop! and it’s gone? Jesus.”

Shatner then rubs his eyes as he tears up again.

“It was so moving to me. This experience, it’s something unbelievable.”

You don’t get a much better testimonial than that. Can’t wait to hear the song Shatner writes about his flight. 


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William Shatner’s Blue Origin flight supercut



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Entertainment

William Shatner responds to Prince William’s criticism of space trip: ‘He’s got the wrong idea’

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William Shatner is firing back at Prince William.

Earlier this week, the future monarch criticized space tourism right as the “Star Trek” actor, 90, famously jetted off to space onboard a Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket.

“We need some of the world’s greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live,” William told the BBC. “I think that ultimately is what sold it for me – that really is quite crucial to be focusing on this [planet] rather than giving up and heading out into space to try and think of solutions for the future.”

During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Shatner addressed the comments.

PRINCE WILLIAM CRITICIZES SPACE TOURISM AT THE EXPENSE OF SOLVING CLIMATE CHANGE

William Shatner said that Prince William ‘has the wrong idea’ about space travel after the royal criticized trips to outer space like Shatner’s recent voyage.
(Getty Images)

“He’s got the wrong idea here, it’s not to go, ‘Oh look at me, I’m in space,'” the actor insisted.

He then offered up a message for William, 39.

WILLIAM SHATNER TALKS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPACE SIMULATORS AND REALITY, THE PHYSICAL TOLL FLIGHT TOOK AT AGE 90

“I would tell the prince – and I hope the prince gets this message – this is a baby step of getting all those polluting industries off of Earth,” he said. “You can build a base 250, 280 miles above the Earth and send that power down here.”

William Shatner traveled to space onboard a Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket this week.
(AP Photo/LM Otero)

When pressed about Williams’ school of thought – fixing Earth rather than leaving it – Shatner offered that people should “fix some stuff down here” after all.

WILLIAM SHATNER SHARES PROFOUND WORDS AFTER SUCCESSFUL BLUE ORIGIN FLIGHT: ‘I HOPE I NEVER RECOVER FROM THIS’

“Everybody in their lifetime needs to be reminded: You’re important, you’re beautiful do something important today,” he added. “That’s what that trip did to me – it reminded me of death facing me because of my age, but also how to protect you in the years to come.”

Prince William has advocated for investing resources in correcting environmental issues on Earth rather than traveling to space to find another place to live.
(Getty Images)

In his discussion with the BBC, William also raised concerns about the carbon cost of space flights.

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Bezos, Virgin’s Richard Branson and SpaceX founder Elon Musk have all competitively ventured into space tourism as of late and Musk frequently talks about the importance of making humankind “interplanetary” especially if Earth becomes uninhabitable. 

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Fox News’ Brie Stimson contributed to this report

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Business

In a Blue Origin Rocket, William Shatner Finally Goes to Space

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Mr. Bezos, who has said he was inspired by “Star Trek” as a boy, listened, still as a statue. He may have been giving Mr. Shatner some space, but it was a sharp contrast to his appearance after his own brief spaceflight in July, when he was aboard the same spacecraft. Then, Mr. Bezos held forth from a stage, rousing condemnation from critics of the vast company he founded as he thanked Amazon’s employees and customers for making it possible for him to finance his private space venture.

Mr. Shatner shared the capsule on Wednesday with three other passengers: Audrey Powers, a Blue Origin vice president who oversees New Shepard operations, and two paying customers: Chris Boshuizen, a co-founder of the Earth-observation company Planet Labs, and Glen de Vries, a co-founder of a company that builds software for clinical researchers.

The launch Wednesday morning was pushed back by roughly an hour by two pauses to the launch countdown — caused in part by extra checks to the spacecraft and winds near its launchpad. The quartet was driven in electric pickup trucks to Blue Origin’s launchpad, roughly an hour before liftoff, flanked by Mr. Bezos and company employees.

For a moment, it appeared Mr. Bezos, dressed in a flight suit like the one he wore in July, would join them in flying to space. But he closed the hatch door before leaving the pad, sending the crew on their journey.

The rocket lifted off at 9:49 a.m. Central time, ascending nearly as fast as a speeding bullet at 2,235 miles per hour and sending the crew some 65.8 miles high. The whole trip lasted 10 minutes, 17 seconds, and gave the four passengers about four minutes of weightlessness.

Mr. Boshuizen, talking to reporters after the flight, likened the crew’s entry into space to a stone hitting the surface of a lake. “I was trying to smile but my jaw was pushed back in my head,” he said.

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Business

William Shatner set to launch on Blue Origin New Shepard flight

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More than 50 years after he debuted as the beloved Capt. James T. Kirk in the original series of “Star Trek,” William Shatner is set to boldly go to the edge of space.

The 90-year-old actor is scheduled to launch Wednesday aboard a rocket and capsule developed by Blue Origin, the private spaceflight company founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. If successful, the joyride will make Shatner the oldest person to reach space.

“I’ve heard about space for a long time now,” he said in a statement released earlier this month. “I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.”

Shatner and three other crew members — Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations, and two paying customers, Glen de Vries and Chris Boshuizen — will ride Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket and capsule to the edge of space. Liftoff is scheduled to occur at 10 a.m. ET and the flight is expected to last roughly 10 minutes.

Chris Boshuizen, William Shatner, Audrey Powers and Glen de Vries are scheduled to launch Oct. 13, 2021.Blue Origin / via AP

In an interview last week with NBC’s “TODAY” show, Shatner spoke about his anticipation for the upcoming flight.

“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,” he said.

Shatner’s trip will be Blue Origin’s second launch of an all-civilian crew. The company’s inaugural flight in July was a high-profile and high-stakes event, with Bezos, his brother and two other passengers onboard.

The New Shepard rocket and capsule are designed for suborbital jaunts, which don’t actually enter into orbit around Earth but rather fly to the edge of space, at an altitude of more than 65 miles, where passengers can experience around four minutes of weightlessness.

Wednesday’s flight will launch from a site in west Texas, southeast of El Paso. After liftoff, the rocket will accelerate toward space at three times the speed of sound. At an altitude of 250,000 feet, the New Shepard capsule will separate, taking Shatner and his crew members to the edge of space.

The craft will then descend under parachutes and land again in the Texas desert.

Shatner’s expedition is the latest in what has been a recent flurry of space tourism flights. Nine days before Bezos flew to the edge of space, British billionaire Richard Branson completed his own suborbital joyride, riding aboard a rocket-powered vehicle developed by his own space tourism company, Virgin Galactic.

Neither Blue Origin nor Virgin Galactic have announced final pricing for their suborbital flights, but tickets are expected to cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And in addition to trips to the edge of space, people with deep pockets may soon be able to pay for orbital experiences and more prolonged stays in microgravity.

Last month, SpaceX, the spaceflight company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, launched four private passengers into orbit around Earth on a three-day expedition. That flight made history as the first orbital launch with an all-civilian crew.

SpaceX is also preparing to launch three private passengers who each paid $55 million to the International Space Station in early 2022.

Denise Chow is a reporter for NBC News Science focused on general science and climate change.

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William Shatner rockets to space with Blue Origin: How to watch live

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The crew of Blue Origin’s NS18 mission.


Blue Origin

Blue Origin plans to make its second crewed flight ever on Wednesday, this time carrying the alter ego of one of the most iconic space travelers ever.

The first flight of a New Shepard rocket
with humans aboard launched July 20 and carried company founder and mega-rich guy Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk and student Oliver Daemen on a quick trip to space. This time around the headline passenger is William Shatner, the 90-year-old veteran actor best known for playing James T. Kirk, captain of the Starship Enterprise in the Star Trek universe.

“I’ve heard about space for a long time now,” Shatner said cheekily in a statement last week. “I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.”

The mission, dubbed NS18, is set to liftoff at 6:30 a.m. PT (8:30 a.m. CT) Wednesday, Oct. 13. Live coverage from Blue Origin is set to begin 90 minutes earlier and will be streamed live. CNET’s livestreamed coverage of the launch is below.

Shatner will be joined in the New Shepard capsule by Chris Boshuizen, former NASA engineer and co-founder of satellite imaging company Planet Labs; Glen de Vries, an entrepreneur and executive with French software company Dassault Systemes; and Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations, Audrey Powers.

The quartet will blast off from Blue Origin’s west Texas launch facility Wednesday morning. A few minutes into the flight, the capsule will separate from the booster and continue on to suborbital space, where the crew will get to experience weightlessness and an epic view of Earth before reentering the atmosphere for a parachute-assisted soft landing in the desert. The whole experience should last around 15 minutes. 

After separation, the New Shepard booster returns for an autonomous landing on the ground to be reused in the future. 


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Shatner, who has also released over 10 albums as a recording artist, says he plans to write a song about the experience for his next album. 

“I want to write about my love of Earth,” Shatner said in an interview posted to Twitter.

The launch was originally scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 12, but got bumped to the following day because of winds in the forecast.

“The mission operations team confirmed the vehicle has met all mission requirements and astronauts began their training today,” Blue Origin said in a statement Sunday morning. “Weather is the only gating factor for the launch window.”

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