Blue Origin NS-18

Blue Origin NS-18

Mission type	Crewed sub-orbital spaceflight
Operator	Blue Origin
Mission duration	10 minutes, 17 seconds
Apogee	107 km (66 mi)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	RSS First Step
Manufacturer	Blue Origin
Crew
Crew size	4
Members	Audrey Powers Chris Boshuizen Glen de Vries William Shatner
Start of mission
Launch date	13 October 2021, 14:49:51 UTC
Rocket	New Shepard (NS4)
Launch site	Corn Ranch, LS-1
Contractor	Blue Origin
End of mission
Landing date	13 October 2021, 14:59 UTC
Landing site	Corn Ranch
Blue Origin NS-18 mission patch New Shepard crewed flights ← Blue Origin NS-16 Blue Origin NS-19 → New Shepard flights ← Blue Origin NS-17 Blue Origin NS-19 →

Blue Origin NS-18 was a sub-orbital spaceflight mission operated by Blue Origin that launched on 13 October 2021.^[1] The mission was the eighteenth flight of the company's New Shepard integrated launch vehicle and spacecraft. It was the second crewed New Shepard launch. The flight, carrying four people including actor William Shatner, launched from Blue Origin's sub-orbital launch site in West Texas aboard the fourth flight of New Shepard booster NS4 and the spacecraft RSS First Step, both having previously flown on NS-14, NS-15, and NS-16 earlier in the year.

At 90, Shatner became the oldest person to fly into space, surpassing the record of 82 which had been held by Wally Funk for three months since her flight on Blue Origin NS-16.^[2][3][4] Per Blue Origin, Shatner was a guest of the company on the flight and did not have to pay for the trip.^[5]

While in space, Shatner experienced the overview effect and articulated it live on camera in a post-flight conversation with Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.^[6]

The crew of four include Blue Origin's vice president of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers, former NASA engineer and third Australian-born person in space Chris Boshuizen, vice chair for life sciences and healthcare at the French software company Dassault Systèmes Glen de Vries, and Canadian actor William Shatner.

Prime crew

Position	Crew
Tourist	Audrey Powers First spaceflight
Tourist	Chris Boshuizen First spaceflight
Tourist	Glen de Vries Only spaceflight
Tourist	William Shatner First spaceflight

Chris Boshuizen, who is also a musician, carried a Star Trek-themed USB drive which contained 400 songs submitted to him via a Reddit thread along with him on the trip.^[7][8][9] The USB drive was later auctioned off for charity supporting Musack, raising $8,448 USD.^[10] A Soundcloud playlist of all of the songs contained on the drive was created for posterity. ^[11]

• Weitering, Hanneke (13 October 2021). "Blue Origin will launch William Shatner into space today! Here's how to watch it live". Space.com. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
• McDonald, Hamish; Holman, Julia; Bennett, Gillian (11 October 2021). "'I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly': The Australian engineer joining William Shatner in space". ABC News. Retrieved 1 December 2021.