Blue Origin launch – as it happened: William Shatner launched into space on historic flight
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Blue Origin has launched William Shatner into space aboard its New Shepard rocket.
The Star Trek actor has gone where no 90-year-old has gone before, becoming the oldest person to ever fly to space.
According to a live stream of the historic event, Shatner reached an altitude of roughly 350,000ft and a velocity of about 2,000mph.
The trip lasted about 10 minutes, when the capsule fell back to Earth with a parachute.
The New Shepard NS-18 flight was originally scheduled for Tuesday but was delayed due to windy weather at the Texas launch site.
Shatner is joined on the flight by Blue Origin Vice President Audrey Powers, former Nasa engineer Chris Boshuizen and Medidata CEO Glen de Vries.
It comes less than three months after Jeff Bezos made the same 11-minute trip aboard the first ever crewed New Shepard rocket.
You can read how the launch played out in our live blog below, as well as watch a video of the event at the top of this page.
Blue Origin launch
One of the big question marks over today’s launch has been safety, following claims from former Blue Origin employees that certain protocols were not being met.
“We’re not in a test period anymore, we spent five years testing and now we are in the passenger phase,” the live stream host says. “Safety has never mattered more.”
Here’s how the rocket currently looks on the launchpad in West Texas.
Blue Origin live stream sees less interest than SpaceX missions
There’s around 18,000 viewers currently watching the stream, which is considerably less than the live streams hosted by SpaceX for its launches. Tests of the Mars-bound Starship prototypes alone receive hundreds of thousands of live viewers.
Is interest in space tourism waning? Or are such trips already becoming normalised? We’re entering an exciting new era of space travel if that’s the case.
Blue Origin launch live stream is here
With 90 minutes to go until lift-off, Blue Origin has begun its live stream of the launch.
The live webcast of New Shepard Mission NS-18 is currently just some text on a starry background, soundtracked by some pleasant sounding stringed instruments, but you can expect coverage from the launchpad imminently.
You can find it by scrolling up to the top of this page. If you scroll down again, you’ll still be able to see the video while also following the live blog.
Blue Origin launch: Tweeting from space?
William Shatner gave a nod to that unforgettable performance in a series of tweets posted last night before bedtime.
The nonagenarian is an avid tweeter, and was one of the platform’s earliest adopters back in 2008.
Since then he has tweeted more than 100,000 times, averaging more than 20 tweets per day.
He’s not able to bring his phone on today’s flight but he claims to have “prearranged a little something” for when he’s in space.
William Shatner, Rocket Man
With just over 3.5 hours until lift-off, I’ve been killing some time enjoying William Shatner’s under-appreciated side career as a singer.
While “singing” might be stretching the definition of the term, this rendition of Elton John’s Rocket Man is one for the ages.
“Packed my bags last night pre-flight, zero hour, 9am,” he sang, more than 40 years ago at the Science Fiction Film Awards, foreshadowing the exact time of today’s lift-off.
“I’m a rocket, man.”
You can watch it here:
Sign up to our tech newsletter
If you’re keen to keep up to date with all the latest tech and space news, then you can sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter. It includes all the latest news and analysis on everything from the crumbling state of the International Space Station, to the latest updates from bitcoin and the crypto space.
To sign up click here and scroll down to the tech icon.
News | The Independent | Today's headlines and latest breaking news | The Independent
The latest breaking news, comment and features from The Independent.
Blue Origin crew take postcards to space
William Shatner and the rest of the Blue Origin NS-18 crew have penned some postcards ahead of their trip to space later.
The Star Trek actor writes: “This is the most important and practical concept for space use and for aiding in saving planet Earth.”
The three other passengers show the space-inspired pictures drawn by students. They were selected from thousands of postcards from Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, which aims to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM and “help invent the future of life in space”.
Blue Origin launch schedule
Here’s what to expect from today’s launch:
T-7.5 hrs: Rocket rolls out to launch pad
T-3 hrs: Propellant load begins
T-45 mins: Go for astronaut load & proceed to the launch tower
T-35 mins: Astronauts begin load into the crew capsule
T-24 mins: Crew Capsule hatch closed
We’re currently at just over T-4 hours, meaning the rocket is already at the launchpad. The live stream is set to be broadcast 90 minutes ahead of lift-off, in around two and a half hours time.
Blue Origin launch time delayed
Blue Origin has once again been forced to push back today’s launch due to windy weather – but only by 30 minutes.
The lift-off is now scheduled for 9am CDT (3pm BST), with weather at this time currently looking promising for launch.
It will take place at Blue Origin’s Launch Site One, near the West Texas town of Van Horn, where forecasts from Accuweather predict wind falling from 11km/h to 7km/h between 8am and 9am local time.
Here’s how the latest weather forecast looks for the time of launch.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket cleared for launch
Blue Origin has cleared its New Shepard NS-18 mission for launch.
“New Shepard is go for launch!” Blue Origin announced.
“The mission team has completed the Flight Readiness Evaluation prior to NS-18. This is our final meeting with the engineers and Mission Control team to ensure all systems are go for launch.”
Very little training was necessary for today’s flight, as the entire thing is automated. However, the passengers do need to know what to do in case of an emergency, as well as how to move around safely in zero gravity.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments