William Shatner Made History As He Went Into Space With Amazon’s Blue Origin Crew

October 13, 2021 / Posted by:

Don’t let that picture above fool you. It might look like Captain Kirk was sedated by an evil space robot known only as BEZOS, and is about to be blasted into the universe so that BEZOS can woo Lt. Uhura away with the promise of glamour, luxury, and a comped Prime membership. But it’s just actor William Shatner preparing for his flight into almost-space on Amazon’s Blue Origin spacecraft. William Shatner made the journey this morning, and spoiler alert, he didn’t become the real-life version of his infamous spoken word cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” Everyone can relax and breathe easy, Spaceman Shatner is back on Earth safe and sound.

A little less than three months after Jeff Bezos almost made history as the first billionaire in space, William Shatner has gone up, up, and…as far away as humans can go while still technically breathing Earth’s oxygen. This “space” journey is really just an aircraft filled with civilians that ventured to the Kármán line, which is about 62 miles above the Earth’s surface. But still, a suborbital publicity stunt is still a publicity stunt, and you’ve got to appreciate the effort that takes. And the fossil fuels. Oh god, the fossil fuels.

90-year-old William Shatner joined three other passengers as The New Shepard NS-18 flight lifted off this morning. Joining the former Captain James T. Kirk on the 11-minute trip was Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers, former NASA engineer Dr. Chris Boshuizen, and software company Vice Chair Glen de Vries. At 90, William Shatner is the oldest person to have flown into space.

There was a live stream of William Shatner and crew blasting off this morning in Jeff Bezos’ rocket, which still looks like it was designed by Robert Smigel for a cutaway joke in an SNL sketch.

Jeff Bezos was there to greet all the part-time space persons as they exited that little mushroom head. Jeff and the crew celebrated with a little champagne shower, which feels wildly inappropriate. Those four people were stuck inside that tiny tin can for nearly a quarter of an hour, nervous and anxious, doing everything to prevent the rush of adrenaline and terror of leaving the safety of Earth from causing them to fully piss or shit themselves? Jeff please, put away the champagne. These people need a bottle of water, a paper barf bag, and immediate transportation to a quiet bathroom. Especially Shatner! He’s 90 years old. I’m shocked he didn’t stumble out of that spacecraft, grab Jeff Bezos by the lapels, and say, “Captain’s log…why did you let me do this?! This was nothing like filming Star Trek. Not to mention I didn’t see a single alien space babe.

Pic: Instagram

Our commenting rules: Don't be racist or bigoted, or post comments like "Who cares?", or have multiple accounts, or repost a comment that was deleted by a mod, or post NSFW pics/videos/GIFs, or go off topic when not in an Open Post, or post paparazzi/event/red carpet pics from photo agencies due to copyright infringement issues. Also, promoting adblockers, your website, or your forum is not allowed. Breaking a rule may result in your Disqus account getting permanently or temporarily banned. New commenters must go through a period of pre-moderation. And some posts may be pre-moderated so it could take a minute for your comment to appear if it's approved. If you have a question or an issue with comments, email: michaelk@dlisted.com

src="https://c.statcounter.com/922697/0/f674ac4a/1/"
alt="drupal analytics" >