Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' space company, has completed its latest high-profile spaceflight: It launched a 90-year-old man to an altitude of roughly 62 miles above Earth. Who was this person? None other than Captain James T Kirk of the USS Enterprise.

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That's right: Actor William Shatner flew out to the great beyond in real life via Blue Origin's New Shepard NS-18 rocket. He's now considered the oldest person to fly to space, a record previously held by aviator Wally Flunk, who flew on Blue Origin's first crewed flight of New Shepard just a few months ago.

If you're a Star Trek fan who wants to see Kirk lift-off, or perhaps you want to be a part of history and watch the oldest person fly to space, here's how. 

When was Shatner's Blue Origin spaceflight?

The launch from the spaceport took place at 8:30am CDT on 13 October 2021.

Watch Blue Origin send William Shatner to space on the New Shepard rocket photo 2
William Shatner

Who joined Shatner's Blue Origin spaceflight?

Shatner was joined on the flight by the following crewmates:

  • Audrey Powers, a VP at Blue Origin
  • Chris Boshuizen, a former NASA engineer who co-founded Planet Labs
  • Glen de Vries, co-founder of Medidata and a vice chair at Dassault Systemes

TMZ said Shatner’s flight was filmed as part of a documentary.

How far into space did Shatner fly?

Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket lifted off from Launch Site One in West Texas carrying four passengers in a crew capsule on top. It climbed to an altitude of 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the Earth. At that point, the capsule and the rocket separated, and both parts fell back to Earth (with the capsule and passengers safely touching down). In total, the flight lasted about 11 minutes.

How to watch Shatner fly into space

Blue Origin hosted live launch coverage on BlueOrigin.com. You can also watch a replay video at the top of this page.