William Shatner's space launch aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard: All we know so far

Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin is nearing its next human spaceflight that will see the oldest man to ever reach outer space. The company recently announced 'Star Trek' fame William Shatner as the fourth and final member who will be 90 years old at the time of his flight. As per multiple media reports, Blue Origin's rocket 'New Shepard' will lift off on October 12 from the company's Launch Site One near Van Horn in Texas, over two months after its first launch.

What we know about the launch

Blue Origin, on October 4, revealed the fourth member of its manned mission named 'NS-18' in William Shatner, who is known for his iconic role as Captain Kirk from 'Star Wars'. After the mission ends successfully, the actor will become the oldest man to ever fly to outer space. In his statement given to the Associated Press, he had said, "I’ve heard about space for a long time now. I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle." Moreover, he also shared a post on Twitter expressing his excitement. 

Prior to Shatner's inclusion in the crew, Blue Origin had revealed three other names including Chris Boshuizen, co-founder of Earth observation company Planet Labs. The other two members are Glen de Vries, vice chair at French software company Dassault Systèmes and Audrey Powers, Blue Origin's vice-president of mission and flight operations. Company founder Jeff Bezos will not board the capsule this time. 

When and where to watch the launch?

Blue Origin will stream the launch live on its official website, as per Space.Com's report. Besides, space enthusiasts can also keep up with the updates on the company's official Twitter handle. The lift-off will take place at 7:00 pm and the broadcast is likely to commence an hour earlier. 

Blue Origin's last manned flight lasted 11 minutes in space which also had four crew members including Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark Bezos. Interestingly, last time Bezos flew with another senior citizen crew member Wally Funk, who was 82 years old. Besides, the fourth crew member  was18-year-old Oliver Daemen, who made it to space due to a last-minute schedule conflict of an auction winner who had won the seat for $28 million, reported Space.Com.

Image: Twitter/@BlueOrigin/@Luigipizzimenti