Blue Origin launched its New Shepard rocket for the fifth time this year. This time the company owned by Jeff Bezos successfully flew into space, 90-year-old actor William Shatner, known for his role as Captain Kirk in the TV series Star Trek.
Had been delayed, the New Shepard mission, called NS-18, carried a crew of four. Shatner was accompanied by Blue Origin VP of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers, Planet Labs co-founder Chris Boshuizen and Medidata co-founder Glen de Vries.
With this successful flight, Shatner the Captain Kirk, became the oldest person to fly into space at the age of 90. The previous record was held by aerospace pioneer Wally Funk, who at the age of 82 flew on Blue Origin's first plane launched in July.
launched from Blue Origin's West Texas facility, reached an altitude of over 100 kilometers before returning safely to Earth a few minutes later. Overall, the launch lasted about 11 minutes. The crew experienced a moment of weightlessness of about three minutes.
The speed of the New Shepard capsule was increased to more than three times the speed of sound to cross the 80-kilometer limit used by the US to mark the edge of space. The capsule was flown independently, without a human pilot, and returned to Earth using a set of parachutes to land in the Texas desert.
Blue Origin said the New Shepard rocket boosters were also reusable, and landed on a concrete runway near the launch site. The NS-18 was the fourth launch and landing for this booster.
In addition to flying people, New Shepard also carries out operational cargo missions, as was done last August. The flight carried a research payload in the capsule it launched.
