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The 90-year-old actor, William Shatner, who is known for his role in ‘Star Trek’s Captain James T. Kirk, along with three fellow passengers, flew into space on Wednesday in a convergence of science fiction and science reality in a ship built by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company.

The actor calls the experience one of the most profound experiences of his life. He said, "It was unbelievable". The other three members who joined Star Trek alumni were Vice President of Mission and Flight Operations Audrey Powers, former Nasa engineer Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries of Medidata Solutions. The 11-minute journey beyond Earth’s atmosphere and back was one of the most amazing experiences of the crew’s life, and they all believe that everyone in the world needs to do this.

As soon as the actor landed back to Earth, Jeff Bezos was there to meet and shake hands with the crew members as they all climbed out of the capsule, and the other members involved in the process along with champagne applauded the landing.

Shatner said to Bezos, "What you have given me is the most profound experience I can imagine. I'm so filled with emotion about what just happened". He later spoke to the reporters and mentioned, "What you're looking down on is Mother Earth, and it needs protecting". William Shatner became the oldest-ever astronaut to fly into space despite being 90-years-old. Before him, aviator Wally Funk, who flew with the crew in July, was the oldest, at 82-years-old.

The mission which helped actor William Shatner experience such a profound moment of his life was a replay of Blue Origin’s maiden human flight which included founder Jeff Bezos in July and was overlooked as one of the breakthrough points for the nascent space tourism sector.

The New Shepard is a 60-foot talker and was blasted from outside the rural west Texas town of Van Horn. The mission was postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday due to the heavy winds in the region. The spacecraft carried the passengers roughly 107 km above the Earth, which gave them a sense of weightlessness for a few minutes before the crew parachuted safely back to the floor of the Texas desert.

The launch of Blue Origin represents another crucial test for the company’s technology as they compete against SpaceX Elon Musk and Virgin Galactic Richard Branson to attract the audience who are ready to experience the exhilaration of spaceflight by paying a large amount of money.

Source: The Times of Israel 

William Shatner has also written a series of books accounting for his experience as Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek and his life after Star Trek. The actor, who has also co-written several novels and a series of science fiction novels called TekWar that were eventually adapted for television, From 1966 to 1969, he played Captain James T. Kirk, and in 1973, he reprised his role as captain only to lend his voice to an animated Star Trek series that lasted two seasons.

After his work on Star Trek, William Shatner had a hard time finding work in the industry because he was type-cast as Kirk. But after a certain period, his small roles started to turn into high-paying jobs. William Shatner refers to that period of his life as a humbling time during which he would take odd jobs, which included small party appearances to support his family.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is also a long-time Star Trek fan and had a cameo (under heavy prosthetic makeup) in the 2016-Star Trek Beyond movie. He is committed to providing access to heaven for those who want to experience spaceflight.