Star Trek star William Shatner, 90, will be the oldest person to travel to space when he joins a Jeff Bezos-funded rocket mission on Wednesday.
The flight is sponsored by Bezos’ fledgling space travel company, Blue Origin. Shatner will be accompanied by Chris Boshuizen, founder of an observatory company; microbiologist Glen de Vries; and Blue Origin’s Vice President for Mission and Flight Operations Audrey Powers.
The Amazon sister company hopes to launch the rocket, christened New Shepard, at 10 a.m. Eastern. The launch is estimated to last approximately 10 minutes, taking the crew out of Earth’s atmosphere to the edge of space.
Initially scheduled for Tuesday, the crew delayed liftoff 24 hours because of high winds around Blue Origin’s Texas launch site.
Shatner told “CBS Mornings” his motives for space travel exceeded his record-breaking age.
“I want to see the Earth,” he told Gayle King. “I want to see what we need to do to save Earth.”
This marks Blue Origin’s second crewed launch since the company’s first mission in July.
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