by Laurel Carroll – Sun Community News

On Oct. 4, Blue Origin confirmed that actor William Shatner, Captain Kirk’s Star Trek performer, will be aboard suborbital flight #NS17 scheduled for an Oct. 12 launch, with four passengers on board.

At 100 km, the company’s New Shepard 4 rocket will just overreach the space border, aka the Karman line, where the Earth’s atmosphere ends and outer space begins. William Shatner will be accompanied by three other passengers, two customers and Audrey Powers, vice president of flight operations at Blue Origin.

But Shatner admits to being a bit “nervous” about this trip: “I’m terrified! I’m Captain bloody Kirk and I’m terrified!”

In an interview with SpaceNews.com, Shatner revealed that Blue Origin’s founder, Jeff Bezos, had reflected, “You’ll be the oldest guy in space,” a description Shatner apparently wasn’t thrilled with. “I don’t want to be the oldest guy in space. I’m Captain Kirk!” But he also acknowledged that he was excited and felt fortunate for the opportunity to be part of this historic flight and for the miracle of leaving planet Earth and looking back at our “Pale Blue Dot,” as the late astrophysicist Carl Sagan once called it.

Liftoff is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT). The flight should last just a bit longer than 10 minutes.