VAN HORN: Today (Oct. 13), Texas William Shatner will launch into space with three other passengers on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket. You can also watch the entire action online.
Blue Origin's Launch Site One will be the launch site for the New Shepard rocket and capsule combo. It will take off at 9 a.m. (11 a.m. ET; 1400 GMT). Blue Origin will provide a live webcast that will be available approximately 90 minutes prior to liftoff. You can view it in the window above. You can also watch the webcast live on YouTube and Bue Origin's site.
Today's mission is 12 weeks following Blue Origin's first ever crewed launch. It carried the company's founder Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark. Wally Funk, an 82-year old aviation pioneer, and Oliver Daemen, a Dutch student, to space. If everything goes according to plan Shatner will become the oldest person to reach space at 90 years of age. This record was previously held by Funk during Blue Origin's July 20th launch.
Live Updates: William Shatner's Blue Origin Launch on New Shepard
More: Blue Origin launches William Shatner
Blue Origin's New Shepard NS-18 Mission Crew, left to right: Chris Boshuizen (left), William Shatner (right), Audrey Powers (right) and Glen de Vries. Blue Origin image credit
Blue Origin's vice-president of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers, Glen de Vries and Chris Boshuizen will fly alongside Shatner, aka Captain Kirk, from Star Trek.
The flight will take approximately 11 minutes and the crew will experience four minutes of weightlessness in space. The rocket booster of New Shepard will be released from the capsule, and the crew will return to Earth for an upright landing at Blue Origin’s West Texas landing site. This is approximately 2 miles (3 km) north of Blue Origin's launch pad. It takes about eight minutes.
While the booster is landing, the New Shepard capsule with the crew on board will reach its maximum altitude just above the Krmn line, the internationally-recognized boundary of space, which is about 62 miles (100 km) above sea level. The capsule will return to Earth within 11 minutes of liftoff.
Blue Origin's webcast will be available throughout the mission. It will show live views of the capsule and rocket during launch and landings. Blue Origin's recovery team will open the hatch to New Shepard capsule shortly after crew lands. The webcast will end at 10:30 EDT (1430 GMT).
Send Hanneke Weitering an email at hweitering@space.com. Follow her @hannekescience. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @Spacedotcom
