Ninety-Year-Old US Actor Of 'Star Trek' TV Series Sets Record As Oldest Human In Space

William Shatner, best known for his iconic role as Captain James Kirk in the long-running US television series Star Trek, became the oldest person to reach outer space on Tuesday as a tourist, courtesy of the private space firm Blue Origin

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th October, 2021) William Shatner, best known for his iconic role as Captain James Kirk in the long-running US television series Star Trek, became the oldest person to reach outer space on Tuesday as a tourist, courtesy of the private space firm Blue Origin.

Video images showed the domed shaped crew capsule separated from the rocket, floating in space as the speed slowed to zero before beginning a controlled descent slowed by rockets and eventually a series of three parachutes.

"That was unlike anything they described," Shatner said as the capsule descended toward Earth.

A recovery team raced to greet the crew, still sealed after plopping down in the Texas desert amid clouds of dust.

"I'm overwhelmed. I know I did it," Shatner said while interviewed by Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos moments after Bezos opened the capsule for the actor to emerge.

Shatner and three other individuals blasted off from a desert launch site in the state of Texas for a ten-minute sub-orbital flight that included several minutes of weightless floating about 60 miles high, widely regarded as the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space.

The actor was joined by Blue Origin Vice President Audrey Powers, co-founder of the Earth-imaging satellite company Planet, Chris Boshuizen, and French healthcare executive Glen de Vries.

It was the second crewed flight for Blue Origin. The first mission in July carried the company's founder Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, Dutch teenager Oliver Daemen featured and aviator Wally Funk. At age 82, Funk held the record as the oldest human in space until Wednesday's flight by Shatner.