What a blast! The rush of amateur astronauts With veteran actor William Shatner -- Captain Kirk of "Star Trek" fame -- becoming the latest celebrity to go into space Wednesday, we look at the recent rush of amateur astronauts.
The Canadian will become the oldest person ever to go into space on the flight, beating pioneering female pilot, Wally Funk, 82, who also flew with Bezos in July. Shatner will experience a few minutes of weightlessness 60 miles (100 kilometres) from Earth, before returning in the reuseable rocket. Bezos and his brother Mark were also on Blue Origin's maiden mission in July.
They want to best "Mission Impossible" star Tom Cruise who announced his own movie project with NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX last year. They hope to wrap their story about a female surgeon who is dispatched to save a cosmonaut by the time they touch down on Sunday.
He hopes to take eight amateurs with him on the first civilian lunar mission and has already invited "La La Land" and "First Man" film director Damien Chazelle. Chazelle says he will have to ask his wife.
But it has since been grounded over a "mishap" and the company that made the early running in space tourism hopes to resume flights next year. bur-fg/wdb |
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