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William Shatner, 90, would become the oldest person to fly in space aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket. Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk in the popular Star Trek franchise, is expected to be part of the second crew to soar into space in the New Shepard capsule in July. Bezos and his team performed the first Blue Origin space flight and spent a few minutes in zero gravity. The Amazon founder is in a race with other private players like Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic to tap into the evolving space tourism market which is expected to be worth at least $ 3 billion (around Rs. 2.2 lakh crores) by now 2030.
According to a report from TMZ, Shatner will be aboard the 15-minute flight scheduled to take off in October and the entire mission will be filmed for a documentary. He has already expressed his desire to take a space flight. Last year, the actor shared a picture of himself in a spacesuit and tweeted it to the US space agency NASA, asking if he could join the SpaceX crew at the International Space Station. .
Besides @NASA – In case; the costume fits! ???????? #LaunchAmerica #AstroBill ???????? pic.twitter.com/Wa9DuV08Vt
– William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) May 20, 2020
Shatner or Blue Origin have yet to officially confirm the news. TMZ’s report did not provide further details.
When Bezos and his team flew into space for a brief period in July this year, the last civilian seat of the flight was auctioned for $ 28 million (around Rs. 205 crore). Bezos and his crew of three traveled beyond the Karman Line, believed to be the edge of space, located at an altitude of 100 km above Earth. As they stepped into weightlessness, the team members floated around the capsule in awe, according to a video shared by the billionaire entrepreneur.
However, Bezos also had to face backlash when some Amazon customers started canceling their Prime subscriptions, claiming they were against funding a billionaire’s private space travel.
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