Captain Kirk’s real-life trip into space has been delayed.
William Shatner – best known for playing the Star Trek stalwart – was due to be beamed up on Tuesday in Jeff Bezos‘s NS-18 spacecraft.
But the Amazon founder’s space company – Blue Origin – has delayed for 24 hours because of “forecasted winds”.
Shatner played Captain Kirk in Star Trek
When the 90-year-old actor does finally lift off from west Texas, he will become the oldest person ever to go into space.
The NS-18 will reach a height of 66 miles (106km), in a journey lasting just 10 minutes. It will be a suborbital trip, meaning the craft will reach outer space, but not space itself.
Shatner sounds excited at the prospect, saying: “I’ve heard about space for a long time now. I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.”
While Shatner will be a guest of Blue Origin, the company says it has sold almost $100m (£73m) in tickets to paying customers.
After a successful flight in July, Bezos said it was the “best day ever”.
The 90-year-old has described the opportunity to visit space as a ‘miracle’. Pic: AP
Shatner will be part of a four-person crew, and will be joined by Audrey Powers, who has played an instrumental role in the years-long process to get Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket cleared for human flight.
Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries – two paying customers – will also be onboard.
If Shatner is feeling disappointed by the delay, he could do worse than listen to his fictional successor, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who said: “Things are only impossible until they’re not.”
