Science fiction became scientific fact for actor William Shatner the original Captain Kirk from Star Trek as he successfully completed his space voyage aboard Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Space Craft
The spaceflight took Shatner more than 340,000 feet above the Earth on Wednesday, making him the oldest person to ever reach space. The Actor, who for four decades played Captain James Kirk, the fearless commander of the USS Enterprise, broke down in tears at the landing site as he described to the private space company’s founder, the Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos, the profundity of his almost 11-minute leap to the stars.
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It was truly a fan moment for Bezos, who used to pretend to be Captain Kirk when playing with his siblings as children, was also the first to greet the crew after their return, reopening the hatch and dipping his head into the capsule with the greeting: “Hello astronauts. Welcome to Earth.” In an Instagram post Bezos revealed that Shatner took few special pieces of memorabilia along for the ride: a set of homemade cardboard “Star Trek” toys that the billionaire crafted when he was just 9 years old.