Page 22 - Weightlessness News Today

Has gone before. 90-year-old william shatner is headed for space for real in a few hours. details from the blue origin launch site in texas. >> reporter: i dont think the original captain kirk had to deal with weather delays when he was commanding the star ship enterprise on star trek. the actor william shatner has had to deal with two wind delays at launch site one in texas. shatner said the delays have extended his feelings about this flight, which rocked from total excitement to sheer terror....

Actually to adapt to weightlessness. there is a significant difference between the profiles youre seeing here in terms of that launch. between the vomit comet and when you get on orbit. so i think its really important to sort of work those out and so the physiology, the physiological aspect of people may not have to be as robust. i will never get over the vomit comet. all of these are small steps towards a return to the moon. who will get there first? the u.s. or china? >> its hard to say, becau...

Hes going to be a little worried. at some point youve got to go, okay, this is about to happen. im along for the ride and im going to put a bunch of nose marks on the window. bill is thinking how am i going to get out of my seat on time and make the most and maybe do a couple flips in weightlessness. hes probably got all those little gremlins of thoughts running around his 90-year-old mind right now. >> its a great point about the technology, the super technology of space. this is a controlled -...

It makes this so much more fun. i know thats the whole point of why hes going, kristin. >> reporter: it really is. he is blue origins special guest. i dont think captain kirk ever had to deal with weather delays when he was commanding the star ship enterprise on "star trek". but they had to deal with two wind delays at launch site 1. but this morning all systems a go. this is going to be a quick sub orbital trip, up and down, 10 minutes total. about four minutes of weightlessness. then they will...

Desert after having gone up over the carmen line and back. >> hello everyone. im kate bolduan. were beginning with breaking news. just a beautiful sight to see. star trek actor william shatner making history as the oldest person ever to go to space. just over ten minutes ago as we all watched it play out, the 90-year-old and three crew mates blasted off aboard blue origins "new shepard" rocket which took billionaire jeff bezos into space just in july. the rocket soared up to about three times th...

Any concerns. she works at blue origin. she was a flight controller for nasa for a number of years. she has quite a resume. im curious, when you hear things like that, you see a letter like that, is that something that should give pause based on your experience? >> well, i think anytime, you know, somebody gets on a rocket there should be a little bit of pause. if they didnt, i dont think they would be human, you know? it is just such an unnatural act. so, of course, when something like that com...

Remarkable. hes in remarkable shape. he is just as bright and smart and witty and funny as he was 40, 50 years ago, and he admits he said it on our air, hes nervous about this flight, and then i said, wait a minute, you battled rom yulens and klingons, and he said yes, but this is the real deal. hes going up, as you mentioned, its just an 11-minute trip. three to four minutes of weightlessness, about 62 miles up, what is that you say? let me bring you back to the summer. remember richard branson...

Four minutes of weightlessness, and all of that is what is kind of driving this. it is an ingenious way to push the blue origin line and the space tourism business. by the way, as you know, william shatner is passionate about the earth, and he talked about this in a video clip just released by blue origin. >> were just at the beginning but how miraculous that beginning is and how extraordinary it is to be part of that beginning. there is this mystique of being in space and that much closer to th...

Ten minutes long from start to finish, about four minutes of weightlessness, but this crew of four people, they will indeed cross the carmen line, the historical marker, the defining line between the boundary of space and earths atmosphere. and so they are going to cross that line, but theyre in the going to go fully into orbit, which is what we saw spacexs mission do. it is incredible to think about the fact that we have had six crude launches from u.s. soil in just six months after nearly a de...

>> "new shepard" astronaut demo whose real name is jeff bezos has this to say. you lucky bastards. [ laughter ] it was only ten weeks ago i was sitting where you are watching the countdown clock full of anticipation and excitement, eager to feel the rumble of liftoff and the majesty of weightlessness. the depth of my desire to fly again is hard to express, so allow me to quote from the classic of the great american song book "mr. space man" with lyrics by william shatner. hey, mr. space man, won...