2LT International News

KENT, Washington: William Shatner, the American actor who gained fame portraying Captain James T. Kirk in the 1960s Star Trek television series, is going to fly into space aboard Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket on 12th October.

Shatner, 90, who will become the oldest person to fly to outer space, will travel on the New Shepard rocket on an 11-minute trip with Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s VP of mission and flight operations, along with Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries.

In a press release, Shatner said, “I have heard about space for a long time now. I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.” His journey will be filmed as part of a documentary, reported TMZ.

The flight will be live-streamed on BlueOrigin.com, with the liftoff from Launch Site One in West Texas, scheduled for 8:30 a.m. CDT.

Blue Origin’s first successful flight took place on 20th July and saw Amazon CEO Bezos traveling to space.

Shatner played the role of Captain Kirk in the original 1966 Star Trek TV series, which went on to become a successful franchise. He also appeared in seven Star Trek films.

Shatner, who is currently the host and executive producer of the History Channel’s The UnXplained, has “long wanted to travel to space,” the press release stressed.