Banhorn, Texas (AP) —Hollywood captain Kirk, 90-year-old William Shatner, explodes into space on Wednesday in a fusion of science fiction and science reality, last on board a ship built by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company. Reached the frontier of.
The “Star Trek” actor and three passengers plunged into the desert of western Texas to an altitude of 66.5 miles (107 km) in a fully automated capsule and safely parachuted back to Earth. The flight lasted over 10 minutes.
“What you have given me is the deepest experience,” exhilarating Shatner told Bezos after climbing the hatch. I can keep what I’m feeling now. I don’t want to lose it. “
He said it was a moving experience to go from the blue sky to the pitch black of the universe. That’s what I saw. “
Shatner became the oldest person in space, eight years ahead of previous records set by passengers on a similar excursion on the Bezos spacecraft in July. The flight included a weightlessness of about 3 minutes and a display of the Earth’s curvature.
Science fiction enthusiasts have the opportunity to see the man best known as the brave and principled commander of the spacecraft enterprise boldly go to places never before seen by American television stars. I enjoyed it. The internet was all the rage and Trekkie quoted Kirk’s favorite lines. “Risk: Risk is our business. That’s all about this spacecraft.”
“This is a pinch-me moment for all of us to see Captain James Tiberius Kirk go into space,” said Jackie Cortese, a launch commentator at Blue Origin, before takeoff. She said she, like many others, was drawn into space by shows like “Star Trek.”
NASA sent the best wishes before the flight and tweeted, “You are our friend and will continue to do so.”
This flight has given Bezos a valuable star power to Bezos’ space travel business, giving baby boomers, celebrity watchers and space enthusiasts its built-in appeal. From 1966 to 1969, Shatner starred in the original “Star Trek” on television while the United States was chasing the moon, and starred in a series of “Star Trek” films.
Bezos was a big fan of Star Trek, the founder of Amazon made a cameo appearance as an alien in one of the later films, and Shatner rode as an invited guest for free.
In favor of Bezos, Shatner brought the Star Trek tricorder and communicator (a type of iPhone of the future) that Bezos made when he was 9 years old Trekkie into space. Mr Bezos said his mother saved them for 48 years.
Bezos himself drove four crew members to the launch pad, accompanied him on a high platform on the ground, boarded a 60-foot rocket, and then cranked the hatch. He was there to greet them when the capsule returned to Earth under its bright blue and red parachutes.
“Hello astronauts. Welcome to Earth!” Said Bezos when he opened the hatch of the New Shepard capsule, named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space.
Shatner and others wore a flame-retardant royal blue flightsuit that fits snugly, rather than the tight, futuristic V-neck of the 1960s that the Enterprise crew had on television.
The actor said he was struck by the fragility of the Earth and its relative slivers of the atmosphere.
“Everyone in the world needs to do this.” Everyone in the world needs to see, “he said. We say around, “Oh, that’s the blue sky.” And suddenly you shoot it all and you’re looking for blackness, black ugliness. “
Shatner said his return to Earth was more shocking than his training expected him to, and made him wonder if he intended to bring it back to life.
“Everything is much more powerful. Bang, this is a hit. It wasn’t like a simulator …. Can I survive the G Force?”
As the capsule descends, passengers are exposed to nearly 6 G, or six times the force of Earth’s gravity. Blue Origin said Shatner and the rest of the crew meet all medical and physical requirements, including the ability to move up and down several stairs at the launch tower.
Shatner’s going to space is “the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” said bartender Joseph Bara, who helped cater for the launch week’s festival. “William Shatner sets the standard for what a 90-year-old man can do.”
The space travel industry is finally taking off, and passengers joy ride on ships built and operated by some of the wealthiest men in the world.
Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson jumped into space on his rocket ship in July, followed by Bezos on his first flight with the Blue Origin crew nine days later. Elon Musk’s SpaceX made its first private voyage in mid-September, but Musk was not on board.
Last week, Russians launched actors and film directors on the International Space Station for filmmaking projects.
Blue Origin said it plans another passenger flight this year and several more in 2022. Sounding like the humane and idealistic Captain Kirk himself, he said the company’s goal was to “democratize the universe.”
Shatner was detained alongside Blue Origin’s vice president and former NASA space station flight controller Audrey Powers, and two paid customers, former NASA engineer Chris Boshuizen and 3D software company Glende Vries. Blue Origin did not reveal the cost of their tickets.
The flight brought the number of humans who flew in space to 597.
“Today’s launch is a testament to the power of imagination, and we should not lose sight of it,” said Adam Frank, an astrophysicist at the University of Rochester, in an email.
“William Shatner may be an” mere actor “, but Captain James T. Kirk is a hopeful future set of the universe that” Star Trek “and general science fiction have given us all. It represents a dream, “Frank continued. “Bezos, like millions of others, fell in love with the vision of” Star Trek “and the infinite frontier of mankind, giving Shatner a rocket seat. “
The Associated Press’s Department of Health Sciences is supported by the Department of Science Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. AP is solely responsible for all content.
Dan reported from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Associated Press video journalist Cody Jackson contributed to the story.
Copyright 2021 AP communication. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.
TV Captain William Shatner Jumps into Space | Nationwide
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