William Shatner will fly to space aboard Blue Origin rocket

By MARCIA DUNN

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Captain Kirk is rocketing into abstraction adjacent week — boldly going wherever nary different sci-fi stars person gone.

Jeff Bezos’ abstraction question company, Blue Origin, announced Monday that “Star Trek” histrion William Shatner volition blast disconnected from West Texas connected Oct. 12.

“Yes, it’s true; I’m going to beryllium a ‘rocket man!’” the 90-year-old tweeted. He added: “It’s ne'er excessively precocious to acquisition caller things.”

Bezos, the laminitis of Amazon, is simply a immense instrumentality of the sci-fi bid and adjacent had a cameo arsenic a high-ranking alien successful the 2016 movie “Star Trek Beyond.” His rocket institution invited Shatner to alert arsenic its guest.

Shatner volition go the oldest idiosyncratic to spell to space. He’ll articulation 3 others — 2 of them paying customers — aboard a Blue Origin capsule. He’ll upwind up being the 2nd histrion to scope abstraction this month: Russia is launching an histrion and a movie manager to the International Space Station connected Tuesday for astir 2 weeks of moviemaking.

Shatner’s flight, by comparison, volition past conscionable 10 minutes and scope nary higher than astir 66 miles (106 kilometers). The capsule volition parachute backmost to the godforsaken floor, not acold from wherever it took off.

With flights abbreviated oregon long, abstraction tourism is picking up steam fast.

Virgin Galactic carried laminitis Richard Branson to the borderline of abstraction with 5 others successful July, followed 9 days aboriginal by Bezos’ abstraction hop. Elon Musk’s SpaceX, meanwhile, launched its archetypal backstage unit past period — a Pennsylvania entrepreneur who bought the three-day formation and took on 2 contention winners and a crab survivor.

Virgin Galactic’s vessel launches from an airplane and requires 2 pilots. Blue Origin and SpaceX’s capsules are afloat automated, but the passengers indispensable walk aesculapian screenings and, among different things, beryllium capable to rapidly ascent respective flights of steps astatine the motorboat operation to get to the capsule — oregon retired of it successful an emergency.

This volition beryllium Blue Origin’s 2nd motorboat of a crew.

Bezos was connected the debut formation connected July 20. He took on his brother, an 18-year-old from the Netherlands and 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk — the youngest and oldest to alert successful space. Shatner volition interruption that precocious threshold by 8 years.

“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 statement.

Shatner played the relation of the USS Starship Enterprise’s commandant for 3 seasons, from 1966 to 1969. He besides portrayed Captain James T. Kirk successful 7 movies, directing 1 of them. He’s presently the big and enforcement shaper of a History Channel show, “The UnXplained.”

The ashes of 2 different “Star Trek” powerhouses — creator Gene Roddenberry and histrion James Doohan, who played Scotty — rocketed into abstraction years agone pursuing their deaths.

Also launching with Shatner: a erstwhile NASA technologist who founded a nanosatellite institution and the co-founder of a bundle institution specializing successful objective research. The 2 took portion successful the auction for a spot connected the archetypal flight. That spot outgo $28 million; Blue Origin isn’t divulging immoderate different summons prices.

A 4th spot connected the formation is going to Blue Origin’s vice president of ngo and formation operations, who utilized to enactment for NASA arsenic a abstraction presumption formation controller.

A Blue Origin spokeswoman said Shatner, similar the others, met each the company’s wellness and carnal requirements.

Last week, much than 20 existent and erstwhile Blue Origin employees accused the Kent, Washington-based institution of having a toxic enactment situation and not adhering to due information protocols. Blue Origin said it doesn’t tolerate harassment oregon favoritism and stood by its information record.

Bezos’ institution is besides challenging a NASA declaration grant to SpaceX for providing a lunar lander that volition instrumentality astronauts to the satellite successful a fewer years. Blue Origin was unsuccessful successful its bid for the job.

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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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This communicative has been corrected to amusement that Shatner volition beryllium oldest to spell to abstraction by 8 years, not six.