William Shatner, TV’s Capt. Kirk, blasts into space

By MARCIA DUNN and RICK TABER

VAN HORN, Texas (AP) — Hollywood’s Captain Kirk, 90-year-old William Shatner, blasted into abstraction Wednesday successful a convergence of subject fabrication and subject reality, reaching the last frontier aboard a vessel built by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company.

The “Star Trek” leader and 3 chap passengers hurtled to an estimated 66 miles (106 kilometers) implicit the West Texas godforsaken successful the afloat automated capsule, past safely parachuted backmost to Earth successful a formation that lasted conscionable implicit 10 minutes.

“You person done something,” an exhilarated Shatner told Bezos arsenic helium emerged from the capsule, the words spilling from him successful a torrent. ”What you person fixed maine is the astir profound experience.” He added: “I anticipation I ne'er retrieve from this.”

He said that going from the bluish entity to the blackness of abstraction was a moving acquisition that made him wonder, “Is that the mode decease is?”

Shatner became the oldest idiosyncratic successful space, eclipsing the erstwhile grounds — acceptable by a rider connected a akin jaunt connected a Bezos spaceship successful July — by 8 years. The formation included astir 3 minutes of weightlessness and a presumption of the curvature of the Earth.

Sci-fi fans reveled successful the accidental to spot the antheral champion known arsenic the stalwart Capt. James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise boldly spell wherever nary prima of American TV has gone before.

“This is simply a pinch-me infinitesimal for each of america to spot Capt. James Tiberius Kirk spell to space,” Blue Origin motorboat commentator Jacki Cortese said earlier liftoff. She said she, similar truthful galore others, was drawn to the abstraction concern by shows similar “Star Trek.”

Bezos is simply a immense “Star Trek” instrumentality — the Amazon laminitis had a cameo arsenic an alien successful 1 of the aboriginal “Star Trek” movies — and Shatner rode escaped arsenic his invited guest.

The blastoff brought priceless prima powerfulness to Bezos’ spaceship company, fixed its built-in entreaty to babe boomers, personage watchers and abstraction enthusiasts. Shatner starred successful TV’s archetypal “Star Trek” from 1966 to 1969, backmost erstwhile the U.S. was racing for the moon, and went connected to look successful a drawstring of “Star Trek” movies.

Bezos himself drove the 4 to the pad, accompanied them to the level precocious supra the crushed and cranked the hatch unopen aft they climbed aboard the 60-foot rocket. A jubilant Bezos was determination to greet them erstwhile the capsule floated backmost to Earth nether its superb blue-and-red parachutes.

“Hello, astronauts. Welcome to Earth!” Bezos said arsenic helium opened the hatch and was embraced by Shatner. The capsule, New Shepard, was named for archetypal American successful space, Alan Shepard.

The formation comes arsenic the abstraction tourism manufacture yet takes off, with passengers joyriding aboard ships built and operated by immoderate of the richest men successful the world.

Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson led the mode by riding into abstraction successful his ain rocket vessel successful July, followed by Bezos 9 days aboriginal connected Blue Origin’s archetypal formation with a crew. Elon Musk’s SpaceX made its archetypal backstage voyage successful mid-September, though without Musk aboard.

Last week, the Russians launched an histrion and a movie manager to the International Space Station for a movie-making project.

“We’re conscionable astatine the beginning, but however miraculous that opening is. How bonzer it is to beryllium portion of that beginning,” Shatner said successful a Blue Origin video posted connected the eve of his flight.

Shatner strapped successful alongside Audrey Powers, a Blue Origin vice president and erstwhile abstraction presumption formation controller for NASA, and 2 paying customers: Chris Boshuizen, a erstwhile NASA technologist who co-founded a outer company, and Glen de Vries of a 3D bundle company. Blue Origin would not divulge the outgo of their tickets.

Blue Origin said Shatner and the remainder of the unit met each the aesculapian and carnal requirements, including the quality to hustle up and down respective flights of steps astatine the motorboat tower. Passengers are subjected to astir 6 G’s, oregon six times the unit of Earth’s gravity, arsenic the capsule returns to Earth.

Shatner shooting into abstraction is “the astir badass happening I deliberation I’ve ever seen,” said Joseph Barra, a bartender flown successful from Los Angeles to assistance cater Blue Origin’s motorboat week festivities. “William Shatner is mounting the barroom for what a 90-year-old antheral tin do.”

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives enactment from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely liable for each content.

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Dunn reported from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Associated Press video writer Cody Jackson contributed to this story.