A Carnegie Mellon Graduate who recently went into space with Star Trek actor William Shatner has died in a plane crash.
Glen de Vries, a 1994 graduate of the Mellon College of Science, was killed along with another person when a small plane crashed in northern New Jersey.
de Vries and Thomas Fischer were aboard the single-engine Cessna 172 that went down Thursday in a wooded area.
de Vries founded the tech company Medidata Solutions. He traveled Oct. 13 aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft and spent more than 10 minutes in space after launching along with Shatner and others.
He was also a trustee at Carnegie Mellon.
de Vries told Carnegie Mellon in an interview after his flight about his time in space.
“I had that heightened sense of time in my mind starting from the countdown,” de Vries said. “I think I've taken that perspective back down with me to our planet, and into my relationships. The passage of time, just like the resources on Earth, feels more precious with expanded perspective.”
de Vries talked with the KDKA Radio Morning Show shortly after returning to Earth.
