William Shatner is set to “boldly go where no man one has gone before” next week when he becomes the oldest person to travel to outer space.
“So now I can say something. Yes, it’s true; I’m going to be a 'rocket man!'” he tweeted. “It’s never too late to experience new things.”
The Jewish Star Trek actor, who turned 90-years old in March, will be blasting off into space on Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin New Shepard NS-18 ship on October 12 for an 11-minute out of this world journey.
The mission will make Shatner the world’s oldest person to travel to outer space by eight years, according to the Associated Press.
Shatner will be joined on the flight – Blue Origin’s second crewed space trip – by three other passengers, two of them paying.
“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.
Bezos is reportedly a huge Star Trek fan. He invited Shatner to fly as his company’s guest.
The ship will travel 66 miles at three times the speed of sound and venture past the Karman Line, the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space, which is located 60 miles above the Earth.
Shatner would have also been the first actor in space if not for Russia’s launch this Tuesday to the International Space Station of an actor and director who will spend two weeks filming a movie.