Back to Earth! Star Trek’s William Shatner, 90, is the oldest person EVER in space as he and three others spend three minutes 62 miles above Earth: Jeff Bezos opens New Shepard capsule door as new astronauts land safely in Texas desert

  • Blue Origin sent four people into space Wednesday during its second crewed flight mission
  • William Shatner, 90, who is famed for his role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek, is now the oldest person in space 
  • Along for the ride are paying customers Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries, as well as Audrey Powers, who is Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations and did not pay for he seat
  • The crew soared atop the 60-foot-tall New Shepard rocket until they reach 62 miles above the surface
  • There they spent three minutes floating around in zero gravity before returning to Earth

Star Trek’s William Shatner has become the oldest person in space at the age of 90 – and he’s come back with one message: ‘Everybody in the world needs to see this’.

Shatner and newly minted astronauts Chris Boshuizen, Glen de Vries and Audrey Powers stepped out of the New Shepard’s iconic white capsule in West Texas following their first mission to the final frontier, where they spent three minutes in zero-gravity.

As a shaky Shatner stepped out of the capsule, he was greeted by Blue Origin boss Jeff Bezos and instantly wrapped his arms around him.

‘I’m so filled with emotion with what just happened,’ Shatner said to Bezos on the ground, breaking into tears. ‘I hope I never recover from this,’ he added.

The crew was met by family and friends when they put their boots back on the ground, and enjoyed champagne showers to celebrate.

‘You have done something,’ an exhilarated Shatner told Bezos as he emerged from the capsule, the words spilling from him in a torrent. ‘What you have given me is the most profound experience.’ He added: ‘I hope I never recover from this.’

He said that going from the blue sky to the blackness of space was a moving experience that made him wonder, ‘Is that the way death is?’

Shatner became the oldest person in space, eclipsing the previous record – set by Willy Funk, 87, on a similar jaunt on a Bezos spaceship in July – by eight years.

The flight also included about three minutes of weightlessness and a view of the curvature of the Earth.