90 year old William Shatner, the actor known best for his role as Captain James T. Kirk, of the U.S.S. Enterprise in the original “Star Trek,” and three others will embark on a brief journey to the edge of space this afternoon.
You can watch the launch LIVE at 2.30pm (BST) on Blue Origin’s YouTube channel – Click HERE. The video will begin about 90 minutes before the flight. (Blue Origin is the name of Jeff Bezos Space company.)
The launch was scheduled for yesterday but windy conditions over West Texas moved it forward 24 hours to today. If more strong winds occur today, the company could choose to delay the flight by another 24 hours, to Thursday.
Three other passengers will join William Shatner on Wednesday’s flight:
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Audrey Powers, a Blue Origin vice president who oversees New Shepard flight operations; like Mr. Shatner, she did not have to pay for her seat.
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Chris Boshuizen, a co-founder of Planet Labs, a company that builds small satellites, also known as CubeSats, that are used by assorted clients for monitoring Earth from orbit.
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Glen de Vries, a chief executive and co-founder of Medidata Solutions, a company that built software for clinical trials.
Dr. Boshuizen & Mr. de Vries are the second and third paying passengers to fly on a Blue Origin flight. The first was Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old man from the Netherlands. The company has not disclosed how much any of these customers paid for their seats on the flights.
When interviewed on Monday, William Shatner said “I’m thrilled and anxious, and a little nervous and a little frightened, about this whole new adventure.”
