How to watch and live stream William Shatner blasting off into space on Blue Origin
Captain Kirk is all set to tread on an unchartered territory where no Starfleet captain has ever gone before in real life.
Hollywood legend William Shatner, who famously played Captain James T Kirk in the original 'Star Trek' series, is poised to fly to space on billionaire Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket. The 90-year-old icon will become the world's oldest astronaut after lifting off with three other crew members from West Texas for a ten-minute ascent.
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How to watch it live?
The unprecedented trip in the rocket named New Shepard is slated to take place at 9.30 am Eastern Time on Wednesday, October 13, and the flight will be streamed live on Blue Origin's YouTube channel. The video will reportedly begin streaming 90 minutes before liftoff.
Space exploration company Blue Origin was founded by Jeff Bezos, one of the world's richest men who is also an ardent 'Star Trek' fan. The 57-year-old billionaire himself visited space in July in his own rocket, albeit the trip was widely mocked due to his vessel resembling a giant penis.
Shatner was known for his famous line "to boldly go where no man has gone before" at the start of each 'Star Trek' episode. "I’ve heard about space for a long time now. I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle," he revealed last week, adding, "I’m going to be a 'rocket man'!"
This will be Blue Origin's second passenger flight using the same capsule that carried Bezos to space three months ago. The trip should last for 10 minutes as the fully automated capsule reaches a maximum altitude of about 66 miles. Passengers will experience a couple of minutes of weightlessness before the spacecraft parachutes back to the Earth's surface.
The space tourism boom began on July 11 when Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson flew to space in his own rocketship. Bezos made his trip aboard his own capsule nine days later. Meanwhile, Elon Musk chose to opt out of SpaceX's first private flight last month, thus giving the opportunity to a billionaire, cancer survivor and two ticket winners to fly into orbit. And last week, Russian authorities sent an actor and a film director to the International Space Station to film a movie.
"We're just at the beginning, but how miraculous that beginning is. How extraordinary it is to be part of that beginning," Shatner said in a Blue Origin promotional video posted on the eve of his flight. "It looks like there's a great deal of curiosity about this fictional character, Captain Kirk, going into space. So let's go along with it and enjoy the ride."
“We are just at the beginning, but how miraculous the beginning is.” @WilliamShatner is ready to go to space. #NS18 pic.twitter.com/u3MnOAbWtW
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) October 12, 2021
Others among the crew include a Blue Origin vice president and two entrepreneurs who bid unsuccessfully for a seat on the previous flight with Amazon founder Bezos. That said, Blue Origin has not divulged its ticket prices.
According to The Sun, Shatner is making a documentary about his journey to space in real life. The Hollywood great, who boasts a 60-year career in the industry, has won several Emmys and Golden Globes, and is also a writer, director and singer. Shatner first starred as Captain Kirk in 1966 alongside Leonard Nimoy as his Vulcan sidekick Spock. The show went on to cement Shatner's legacy and catapulted him into superstardom before the show was canceled in 1969. Nonetheless, the star returned to feature in seven of the franchise's subsequent movies, starting in 1979 with 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture'.