Shatner's Blue Origin flight slated to launch Wednesday

It whitethorn not beryllium aboard the USS Enterprise, but "Star Trek" histrion William Shatner is slated to yet marque his mode into the large beyond connected Wednesday.

Shatner and crewmates Audrey Powers, Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries volition blast disconnected aboard a Blue Origin New Shepard NS-18 rocket successful a motorboat scheduled for 10 a.m. ET.

The 4 were acceptable to blast disconnected from Blue Origin's "Launch Site One" successful agrarian occidental Texas connected Tuesday, but organizers announced Monday that forecasted precocious winds had delayed the launch.

According to the BBC, Wednesday's motorboat volition concisely nonstop the unit retired of the Earth's ambiance and into abstraction earlier falling backmost to the ground. The full journey, which volition apical retired astatine astir 60 miles supra the Earth's atmosphere, volition instrumentality astir 10 minutes.

At 90 years old, Shatner volition go the oldest idiosyncratic to ever question to space.

"I've heard astir abstraction for a agelong clip now. I'm taking the accidental to spot it for myself. What a miracle," Shatner said successful a Blue Origin property release.

Powers is Blue Origin's Vice President of Mission & Flight Operations and has worked for the institution since 2013.

"I'm truthful arrogant and humbled to alert connected behalf of Team Blue, and I'm excited to proceed penning Blue's quality spaceflight history," Powers said successful a property release. "I was portion of the astonishing effort we assembled for New Shepard's Human Flight Certification Review, a years-long inaugural completed successful July 2021. As an technologist and lawyer with much than 2 decades of acquisition successful the aerospace industry, I person large assurance successful our New Shepard squad and the conveyance we've developed."

The motorboat volition people Blue Origin's second quality flight. On July 20, Blue Origin and Amazon laminitis Jeff Bezos traveled to abstraction with his brother, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and Blue Origin's archetypal customer, Oliver Daemen.