Watch live: Blue Origin rocket launch sends William Shatner into space | DW News

Billionaire U.S. businessman Jeff Bezos's company Blue Origin is set for its second suborbital tourism flight today, with Canadian actor William Shatner - who embodied the promise of space travel on the "Star Trek" TV series and films - among the four-person all-civilian crew poised to blast off in Texas.

Shatner, at age 90, is due to become the oldest person ever in space, beating pioneering female pilot, Wally Funk, 82, who also flew with Bezos in July. Shatner will experience a few minutes of weightlessness 60 miles (100 kilometres) from Earth, before returning in the reusable rocket.

He and his crewmates are scheduled for a 9 a.m. (1000 EDT/1530 GMT) takeoff aboard the 60-foot-tall (18.3 meters-tall) fully autonomous New Shepard spacecraft at Blue Origin's launch site about 20 miles (32 km) outside the rural west Texas town of Van Horn.

Joining Shatner for what is expected to be a roughly 10-minute journey are former NASA engineer Chris Boshuizen, clinical research entrepreneur Glen de Vries and Blue Origin vice president and engineer Audrey Powers.

Exclusive video courtesy of Blue Origin.

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Видео Watch live: Blue Origin rocket launch sends William Shatner into space | DW News канала DW News