Star Trek legend William Shatner has become the oldest person to ever reach space following the successful completion of a flight aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket.
The 90-year-old actor launched into space on a Blue Origin flight alongside Audrey Powers, Chris Boshuizen, and Glen de Vries just before 10:50 a.m. ET on Wednesday morning. The trip lasted around 10 minutes from takeoff to landing, with the capsule carrying the crew touching down safely near the Texas launch site, where Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos greeted them.
"I'm so filled with emotion about what just happened. It's extraordinary. I hope I can maintain what I feel now. I don't want to lose it. It's so much larger than me and life," Shatner said on his return to Earth, per CNN. "It hasn't got anything to do with the little green men and the blue orb. It has to do with the enormity and the quickness and the suddenness of life and death."
This is only the second crewed outing for Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket, having successfully completed its first-ever human spaceflight three months ago. Bezos was joined by three other passengers on that trip, including 82-year-old Wally Funk who became the oldest astronaut to travel to space — a record that has now been broken by Shatner.
Shatner became a cultural icon for his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek television series, steering the USS Enterprise through its voyages between 1966 and 1969. He reprised his role in Star Trek: The Animated Series, as well as Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He played Kirk in the next six Star Trek films prior to the character's demise.
The legendary actor has been involved with plenty of pioneering projects before. For his birthday this year, the Star Trek legend announced a special collaboration with Los Angeles-based tech company StoryFile and revealed that they would be creating an interactive AI-powered video of himself, so family and friends could interact with him for years to come.
Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.
