William Shatner can now say he's been to space in real life too
He dethroned 82-year-old aviator Wally Funk as the oldest person to travel to space
William Shatner didn’t just traverse through space on TV—he now gets to say he’s done it in real life too, too. Well… sort of.
Earlier this month, it was announced that Shatner, at 90 years old, would be the oldest person to ever go to space, traveling on Jeff Bezos’ dick-shaped (and now dildo-fied) rocket Blue Origin. Mission accomplished. Shatner successfully joined Bezos’ fifth trip to “kind of space” for a ride that only lasted 11 minutes and reached the surface just outside of Earth.
Now, he gets bragging rights for the rest of his life.
“I hope I never recover from this,” Shatner told Bezos on camera, as reported by Deadline. He also said his experience leaving Earth for the length of a Quibi episode was “unbelievable” and “profound.”
It seems to have left an existential impact on him, as he started waxing poetic about “what is life and what is death.” He added, “What is unknown until you do it is this pillar, is this soft blue, the beauty of that color and it is so thin, and you are through with it in an instant.”
He also told Bezos that “everybody in the world needs to do this,” but unfortunately, it looks like leaving Earth is still only for those who are astronauts, mega rich, or just happen to have rich dads.
The record for oldest person in space was previously set by 82-year-old aviator Wally Funk. She joined Bezos on his first Blue Origin ride back in July. Bezos had also taken the youngest person into space along with Funk: 18-year-old Oliver Daemen.
With Bezos making history for taking off with both the youngest and oldest space travelers, Virgin founder Richard Branson—who was the first of the rich guys to test out his fleet—has to step it up and find a way to outshine Bezos by breaking his record. Time to call Betty White, Branson!