[ad_1]
When William Shatner, 90, traveled to the sting of house aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard on Wednesday he grew to become the oldest particular person ever to achieve such heights.
Mr. Shatner, whose identify has been synonymous with house exploration since he performed Captain James T. Kirk within the unique “Star Trek” collection greater than half a century in the past, grew to become the primary nonagenarian to cross the Kármán line, the widely known boundary between the environment and house about 63 miles above the Earth.
Requested whether or not he was in coaching for the roughly 10-minute mission, Mr. Shatner joked earlier than the flight that the routine had been intense.
“On a regular basis,” he instructed Anderson Cooper on CNN. “I’m working miles, miles.”
Mr. Shatner’s voyage got here sizzling on the heels of 1 by Wally Funk, who at 82 was the oldest particular person to journey to house when she took half in a Blue Origin flight in July with Jeff Bezos, the corporate’s proprietor.
Ms. Funk excelled at assessments for astronauts within the house program within the Sixties, earlier than Mr. Shatner performed Captain Kirk, however NASA didn’t permit ladies to change into astronauts on the time.
John Glenn, who was the primary American to orbit the Earth in 1962, additionally grew to become the oldest particular person to achieve house when he flew aboard an area shuttle mission greater than 35 years later on the age of 77. Not like Mr. Shatner or Ms. Funk, Mr. Glenn’s journey went to orbit, which requires a way more highly effective rocket than the one powering Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft.
The youngest particular person ever to journey to house additionally flew on Blue Origin’s July flight. He was Oliver Daemen, 18, of the Netherlands.
Mr. Shatner instructed Mr. Cooper that “I’m a bit bit nervous concerning the flight.”
However curiosity was a extra highly effective motivator, and Mr. Shatner mentioned he was excited by the query “What is going to I see after I’m on the market?”
[ad_2]