![]() ![]() Blue Origin did not disclose how much the paying customers of NS-18 spent on their tickets. The company auctioned off a seat on its inaugural flight with Bezos in July, and that seat sold for $28 million. ![]() New FAA rules change who qualifies for commercial astronaut wingsīlue Origin plans to eventually start launching regular space tourism flights on its New Shepard rockets, though the company has not yet said when it will start selling tickets - or how much those tickets will cost. ![]() Meet William Shatner's Blue Origin Crew William Shatner's Blue Origin launch: What to know "What you have given me is the most profound experience I could ever imagine," Shatner told Bezos after launch. Shatner was visibly moved by the experience, wiping tears from his face as he tried to describe it. "Okay, guys, we have four astronauts before you," Bezos said.ĭuring their flight, the crew traveled just above the Kármán line, an internationally recognized boundary of space, which is about 62 miles (100 km) above sea level. After the flight, Bezos presented each of the four crewmembers with Blue Origin astronaut wings just after they exited their capsule at their West Texas desert landing site. Shatner had a bit of fun with the coin, offering to flip it to decide whether to launch.īezos then drove the crew to Launch Site One in an electric Rivian truck, with Shatner in the center seat like he would take on the bridge of the USS Enterprise on "Star Trek." Bezos accompanied the crew up to their capsule, where they rang a ship's bell as they crossed the gantry to New Shepard. The coin presentation, which Blue Origin webcast live, is a new tradition by the company. Just one hour before launch, Blue Origin's Crew Member Seven Sarah Knights presented each passenger with a challenge coin signifying the completion of their training. Before taking on her current position at the company, Powers served as an engineer and a space lawyer, and she was previously a flight controller for NASA's International Space Station program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. While Boshuizen and de Vries paid for their seats on New Shepard - Blue Origin did not say how much they paid - Powers joined the mission as part of her professional role at Blue Origin. The crew of Blue Origin's New Shepard NS-18 mission, from left: Chris Boshuizen, William Shatner, Audrey Powers and Glen de Vries. Related: Meet William Shatner's real-life space crew for Blue Origin's launch "It was incredible," de Vries told Bezos after launch, adding that he was still processing the experience. ![]() Joining Shatner on the NS-18 mission were three other private crewmembers, including Audrey Powers, Blue Origin's vice president of mission and flight operations Glen de Vries, vice chair for life sciences and healthcare at the French software company Dassault Systèmes and Chris Boshuizen, co-founder of the San Francisco-based Earth observation company Planet. Shatner, aka Captain Kirk, is however not the first " Star Trek" actor to fly to space that title goes to NASA astronaut Mae Jemison, who appeared in an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." (Jemison, who served as a mission specialist on the space shuttle Endeavour in 1992, was also the first Black woman to fly to space.) The ashes of the late actors James Doohan, who portrayed Scotty on Star Trek, and Majel Barrett Roddenberry (who voiced the computer and portrayed Lwaxana Troi on The Next Generation, have also been launched to space, as have those of Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Shatner is now the oldest person to have ever flown to space, beating the record set by the 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk, who flew on Blue Origin's first crewed flight with the company's founder Jeff Bezos on July 20. ![]()
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