William Shatner, known for his role of Captain James T Kirk in the original Star Trek series, yesterday boldly went where only a new have gone before …

The Blue Origin space shuttle successfully completed its second human spaceflight on board New Shepard on with four astronauts on board: Dr Chris Boshuizen, Glen de Vries, Audrey Powers, and William Shatner. It also carried thousands of postcards from Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future.

The crew of NS-18: Dr. Chris Boshuizen, William Shatner, Audrey Powers, and Glen de Vries. Picture credit: Blue Origin

“At Blue Origin, we are motivated by the dreamers that inspire us and the builders who turn those dreams into reality,” says Bob Smith, CEO Blue Origin. “The crew represented both dreamers and builders.

“We had the honuor of flying our very own Audrey Powers, vice-president of New Shepard Operations, who fulfilled a lifelong dream to go to space and has been an integral part of building New Shepard.

“Our two customers, Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries, have built their own successful ventures and have now realized their own dreams of space travel.

“And, as everyone knows, William Shatner has played an important role in describing and imagining the wonders of universe and inspired many of us to pursue a career in the space industry.

“This flight was another step forward in flying astronauts safely and often. It’s an incredible team and we are just getting started.”

Picture credit: Blue Origin

Key mission statistics include:

* Crew capsule apogee: 106 km AGL / 107 km MSL

* Booster apogee: 106 km AGL / 107 km MSL

* Official launch time: 9:49 AM CDT / 14:49 UTC

* CC Landing Time: 9:59 AM CDT / 14:59 UTC

* Mission elapsed time: 10 min 17 sec

* Max ascent velocity: 3,597 km/h

Shatner’s career as an actor, director, producer, writer, recording artist, and horseman has spanned 60 years.

He originated the role of Captain James T Kirk in 1966 for the television series Star Trek. The series spawned a feature film franchise where he returned as Captain Kirk in seven of the Star Trek movies, one of which he directed. He has long wanted to travel to space and will become the oldest person to have flown to space.

Shatner is currently the host and executive producer of The UnXplained on The History Channel. From the producers of Ancient Aliens and The Curse of Oak Island, the one-hour, non-fiction series explores the world’s most fascinating, strange and inexplicable mysteries.

“I’ve heard about space for a long time now. I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle,” Shatner comments.

Picture credit: Blue Origin

Featured picture: The astronauts with the capsule recovery. Picture credit: Blue Origin