The Blue Origin flight set to launch William Shatner into space has been delayed a day due to inclement weather. Captain Kirk himself will board the New Shepard NS-18 rocket on Wednesday, rescheduled for liftoff from Launch Site One at 9:30 a.m. ET.
“As part of today’s Flight Readiness Review, the mission operations team confirmed the vehicle has met all mission requirements and astronauts began their training today,” according to a Sunday announcement. “Weather is the only gating factor for the launch window.”
Best known for his role as Captain James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek TV series, Shatner was revealed earlier this month as part of Blue Origin’s second civilian flight. 82-year-old Wally Funk is currently the oldest astronauts to travel to space, having joined Jeff Bezos and his brother on the first first flight, but at 90, Shatner will soon break Funk’s record (which, in turn, broke NASA astronaut John Glenn’s previous record).
Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, 71, recently became the oldest man on a suborbital spaceflight; Peggy Whitson, who turned 57 in 2017 while completing a 289-day mission aboard the International Space Station, still holds the title for oldest woman to fly aboard an orbital spaceflight.
Blue Origin’s Audrey Powers, VP of mission and flight operations, will join Shatner and crewmates NASA engineer Chris Boshuizen and Dassault Systèmes executive Glen de Vries on this week’s flight. “I’ve heard about space for a long time now,” Shatner said in a statement. “I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.”
Planning to spend his time in micro-g with his “nose pressed against the window,” Shatner will also be busy composing an opus about the experience. When asked by Blue Origin creative director Joel Eby whether he plans to write a new song after the New Shepard experience, the musician said “absolutely.”
“The next album will be about love,” Shatner explained. “And I want to write about my love of Earth, having seen it in the milieu of hostile space, to see this gem, this warm, loving, nourishing planet.”
Watch Wednesday’s launch streamed live on the Blue Origin website.
