Captain Kirk to become oldest person in space

Blackleaf

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 9, 2004
48,340
1,650
113
1633374362717.png

The actor who played Captain Kirk in the Star Trek series is set to embark on a real-life journey into space.

US tech billionaire Jeff Bezos's space travel company Blue Origin confirmed that William Shatner would be blasting off from Texas on 12 October.

Aged 90, the actor will become the oldest person to have flown into space.

"I've heard about space for a long time now. I'm taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle," Shatner said in a statement.

Shatner will be joining three other people aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket for the company's second human spaceflight.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos joined the first crewed flight in July, along with his brother, an 82-year-old pioneer of the space race and an 18-year-old student.

As with the previous flight, the October voyage is expected to last about 10 minutes and will take the crew just beyond the Karman Line - the most widely recognised boundary of space which lies 100km (60 miles) above the Earth.

Blue Origin said its vice president of mission and flight operations, Audrey Powers, would also be on board the flight, as well as a former Nasa engineer and the co-founder of a software company specialising in clinical research.

A Canadian actor, Shatner famously played Captain James T Kirk of the USS Enterprise in the original Star Trek TV series in the 1960s, and later appeared in films of the franchise.

Reports in 2013 said he had turned down Sir Richard Branson's offer to fly him into space with Virgin Galactic - the billionaire's space travel company which took Sir Richard to the edge of space in July.

Sir Richard told The Sun newspaper at the time it was because Shatner has a fear of flying. But in 2011 the actor said he had turned down the offer because the billionaire allegedly wanted him to pay for the journey.

"He wanted me to go up and pay for it and I said: 'Hey, you pay me and I'll go up. I'll risk my life for a large sum of money.' But he didn't pick me up on my offer," Shatner told reporters.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Mowich

Decapoda

Council Member
Mar 4, 2016
1,682
801
113
“He’s boldly going where other people have gone before,” Takei told Page Six when asked his thoughts on Shatner’s flight. “He’s a guinea pig, 90 years old and it’s important to find out what happens… So 90 years old is going to show a great deal more on the wear and tear on the human body, so he’ll be a good specimen to study. Although he’s not the fittest specimen of 90 years old, so he’ll be a specimen that’s unfit!”

George Takei Jabs at William Shatner’s Space Flight, Calls ‘Star Trek’ Co-Star an ‘Unfit’ Guinea Pig

----
Honestly, I don't really get this whole Blue Origin thing. Space X has genuine utility, with NASA contracts delivering supplies and crew to the space station, and an ambitious and lucritive stake in the future moon program and beyond. But Blue Origin....seems like a massively overpriced 10 minute amusement park ride for millionaires. And it's shaped like Bezos is subconsciously compensating for something.
 
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: taxslave and Mowich

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,667
3,004
113
Prince William: Great minds should focus on saving Earth not space travel
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Michael Holden
Publishing date:Oct 14, 2021 • 19 hours ago • 2 minute read • 20 Comments
Britain's Prince William, president of the Football Association, visits Dulwich Hamlet FC at the Champion Hill Stadium, meeting with players, club management, and football fans from a range of clubs to discuss the independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance, in London, Britain September 23, 2021.
Britain's Prince William, president of the Football Association, visits Dulwich Hamlet FC at the Champion Hill Stadium, meeting with players, club management, and football fans from a range of clubs to discuss the independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance, in London, Britain September 23, 2021. PHOTO BY POOL /REUTERS
Article content
LONDON — Britain’s Prince William has taken a thinly veiled swipe at the billionaires embroiled in a space tourism race, saying the world’s greatest brains should instead be focused on solving the environmental problems facing the Earth.

Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Article content
During a BBC interview aired on Thursday, William appeared to criticize Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, Elon Musk and Briton Richard Branson, whose rival ventures are all vying to usher in a new era of private commercial space travel.


“We need some of the world’s greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live,” William said of the space race.

His comments come after Musk has spoken about missions to Mars, and Bezos described his inaugural space flight in July as part of building a road to space “so that our kids and their kids can build a future.”

“We need to do that to solve the problems here on Earth,” said Bezos, who on Wednesday celebrated sending Star Trek actor William Shatner into space in his New Shepard spacecraft.

Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Article content
Speaking out on green issues has become a major feature of the British royal family, and William, 39, is following in the footsteps of his late grandfather Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband, and his father, Prince Charles.

Charles, the 72-year-old heir to the throne, has for decades called for action to stop climate change and environmental damage, long before the issue became mainstream, often facing ridicule along the way.

“It’s been a hard road for him. He’s had a really rough ride on that, and I think he’s been proven to being well ahead of the curve,” William said.


“But it shouldn’t be that there’s a third generation now coming along having to ramp it up even more. For me, it would be an absolute disaster if George (his eldest child) is sat here … in like 30 years’ time whatever, still saying the same thing, because by then we will be too late.”

In an echo of his father’s message earlier this week, William also said the upcoming U.N. Climate Change Conference COP26 summit in Scotland had to deliver.

“We can’t have more clever speak, clever words but not enough action,” William said.

The prince’s personal response to the issue has been to create the Earthshot Prize, which aims to find solutions through new technologies or policies to the planet’s biggest environmental problems.

The first five winners, who will each collect 1 million pounds ($1.4 million), will be announced at a ceremony on Sunday.
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
36,362
4,336
113
Vancouver Island
“He’s boldly going where other people have gone before,” Takei told Page Six when asked his thoughts on Shatner’s flight. “He’s a guinea pig, 90 years old and it’s important to find out what happens… So 90 years old is going to show a great deal more on the wear and tear on the human body, so he’ll be a good specimen to study. Although he’s not the fittest specimen of 90 years old, so he’ll be a specimen that’s unfit!”

George Takei Jabs at William Shatner’s Space Flight, Calls ‘Star Trek’ Co-Star an ‘Unfit’ Guinea Pig

----
Honestly, I don't really get this whole Blue Origin thing. Space X has genuine utility, with NASA contracts delivering supplies and crew to the space station, and an ambitious and lucritive stake in the future moon program and beyond. But Blue Origin....seems like a massively overpriced 10 minute amusement park ride for millionaires. And it's shaped like Bezos is subconsciously compensating for something.
That is exactly what it is. Billionaires have no concern about carbon footprint. Or the little people having decent jobs. Shitner is opposed to old growth logging in BC. The industry that opened up this province.
 

B00Mer

Keep Calm and Carry On
Sep 6, 2008
44,800
7,297
113
Rent Free in Your Head
www.getafteritmedia.com
  • Like
Reactions: Ron in Regina

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,667
3,004
113
“He’s boldly going where other people have gone before,” Takei told Page Six when asked his thoughts on Shatner’s flight. “He’s a guinea pig, 90 years old and it’s important to find out what happens… So 90 years old is going to show a great deal more on the wear and tear on the human body, so he’ll be a good specimen to study. Although he’s not the fittest specimen of 90 years old, so he’ll be a specimen that’s unfit!”

George Takei Jabs at William Shatner’s Space Flight, Calls ‘Star Trek’ Co-Star an ‘Unfit’ Guinea Pig

----
Honestly, I don't really get this whole Blue Origin thing. Space X has genuine utility, with NASA contracts delivering supplies and crew to the space station, and an ambitious and lucritive stake in the future moon program and beyond. But Blue Origin....seems like a massively overpriced 10 minute amusement park ride for millionaires. And it's shaped like Bezos is subconsciously compensating for something.
they should just kiss and make out. 👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨 😙😚😘 😗 💋 ;)
 
  • Wow
Reactions: B00Mer

pgs

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 29, 2008
26,543
6,923
113
B.C.

Jinentonix

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 6, 2015
10,607
5,250
113
Olympus Mons
The Prince don't get it. It's like a new car maker. They make shitty but affordable entry level cars to make the money needed to make better cars.
In this case, they're using space tourism (low orbit of course) as a means to generate the capital for the bigger, corporate leaps. Imagine how much better things would be here if we could mine asteroids and other worlds for their mineral resources instead of mining the living shit out of this planet for what's left.

On the other hand, with space exploration becoming corporatized, I see a more "Blade Runner" type future than an original "Star Trek" kind of future.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
35,667
3,004
113
Glen de Vries, entrepreneur who flew to space with Shatner, dies in plane crash
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Nov 12, 2021 • 12 hours ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation
Star Trek actor William Shatner poses with Audrey Powers, Blue Origin's vice-president of mission and flight operations and a former NASA flight controller and engineer; and Glen de Vries, the co-founder of Medidata Solutions, a life science company during the Blue Origin New Shepard mission NS-18 suborbital flight near Van Horn, Texas, Oct. 13, 2021.
Star Trek actor William Shatner poses with Audrey Powers, Blue Origin's vice-president of mission and flight operations and a former NASA flight controller and engineer; and Glen de Vries, the co-founder of Medidata Solutions, a life science company during the Blue Origin New Shepard mission NS-18 suborbital flight near Van Horn, Texas, Oct. 13, 2021. PHOTO BY BLUE ORIGIN /Handout via REUTERS
Article content
Medical research software mogul Glen de Vries, who flew to space last month with actor William Shatner aboard a rocketship operated by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, died in a small plane crash in New Jersey, state police said on Friday.

The plane crashed on Thursday in Sussex County, New Jersey, just northwest of New York City, police said, adding that De Vries, 49, and another man aboard the aircraft, Thomas Fischer, 54, were killed.


The aircraft, a single-engine Cessna 172, went down in a wooded area of a state park near Lake Kemah, New Jersey, about 40 minutes before sunset, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating the crash.

No other official details surrounding the circumstances of the accident were immediately available.

Advertisement
STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Article content

“Such a tragic loss. Warm and full of life, Glen made us laugh and lit up the room. He was a visionary, and an innovator – a true leader,” Bezos, Blue Origin’s founder and executive chairman of online retail giant Amazon.com, said on Twitter, adding he was “heartbroken.”

De Vries, an instrument-rated private pilot and founder of the clinical research company Medidata Solutions, soared to space last month in a suborbital joyride aboard the New Shepard rocketship of astro-tourism venture Blue Origin, riding along with three other civilian crew members.

The most notable of the four New Shepard passengers was Shatner, the 90-year-old actor best known for his role as Captain James T. Kirk on the original 1960s television show “Star Trek.” The Oct. 13 launch made Shatner the oldest person ever to fly into space.

The two other crewmates for that flight were former NASA engineer Chris Boshuizen and Blue Origin Vice President Audrey Powers.

Medidata Solutions, formed by de Vries in 1999, ranks as the world’s most used clinical research platform, according to a career profile of de Vries that Blue Origin posted when he was chosen as one of the four New Shepard passengers.

He was vice chair of life sciences and healthcare at the French software company Dassault Systemes, which acquired Medidata in 2019. He also served as a trustee of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.