William Shatner, 90, becomes oldest person to fly to space on Blue Origin

On 13 October 2021, actor William Shatner, best known as Captain James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek series, flew to space aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket. He was 90 years old, making him the oldest person to have travelled to space at that time.

The suborbital flight launched from Blue Origin's site in West Texas, the private spaceflight company founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The capsule crossed the Kármán line, the commonly cited boundary of space about 100 kilometres up, and the flight lasted around ten minutes. Passengers experienced a few minutes of weightlessness before the capsule returned by parachute.

Shatner flew with three other passengers. Afterwards he spoke emotionally about the experience, describing a deep sense of sadness at seeing how thin Earth's atmosphere looked. The flight drew wide attention because it linked a science-fiction icon to real spaceflight, and it raised the profile of commercial space tourism. It is often recalled in later interviews in which Shatner reflects on ageing, mortality and his legacy.