William Shatner: Now The Oldest Person In Space?

As an actor who played Captain James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek TV series over 50 years ago, is William Shatner now the oldest person to travel to space?

By: Ringo Bones

Its official, as of October 13, 2021, William Shatner, the actor who played Captain James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek TV series that first aired over 50 years ago is now the oldest person to have gone to space at the age of 90. While his space travel exploits on TV five decades or so ago has been the stuff of science fiction during the infancy of the United States manned space exploration program, William Shatner has finally achieved real space travel making him indeed earn the moniker “rocket man”.

For a number of years, it was the Star Trek: The Next Generation guest star Lt. Mae Jemison who actually experienced actual space travel as a Space Shuttle era astronaut. It wasn’t until the advent of space tourism start-up companies – like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin private space travel / space tourism firm in the 21^st Century – where almost anyone with enough money can experience what used to be the domain of tenured astronauts from NASA and other nations fortunate enough to afford costly space exploration programs.

William Shatner’s most touching quote on his travel to near space on the Blue Origin New Shepard is: “You look down, there’s the blue down there and the black up there… there is Mother Earth and comfort and there is, is there death? I don’t know, but is that death? Is that the way death is? It was so moving; this experience, it was something unbelievable.” He said while the crew celebrated behind him. Speaking to Jeff Bezos after the Blue Origin flight, the 90-year-old actor told him: “What you have given me is the most profound experience I can imagine.” Shatner also continued: “It hasn’t got anything to do with the little green men and the blue orb. It has to do with the enormity and the quickness and the suddenness of life and death.”

Being a lifelong Star Trek fan, Bezos flew Shatner as a “comped guest”. Shatner’s three other crewmates are Chris Boshuizen, a co-founder of the satellite company Planet Labs and software executive Glen de Vries – who are both paying customers. And Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations.

Before William Shatner became the oldest space traveler, the record was previously held by Wally Funk, who at 82 years old was part of the crew of the Blue Origin New Shepard’s inaugural manned flight earlier in July 2021. Funk was originally part of the Mercury 13 program that included women astronauts that was scrapped by NASA back in the early 1960s. Back in 1998, 77 year old former NASA astronaut and Senator John Glenn previously held the title of the oldest astronaut during his STS-95 mission onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery back in October 29, 1998.

Japanese Billionaire Seeks Date To Fly With Him To The Moon: One Giant Step For Space Tourism?

Even though it had become the romantic gesture of the moment, does a Japanese billionaire seeking a date for his lunar jaunt represent a one giant step for space tourism?

By: Ringo Bones

His name is Yusaku Maezawa and he is a 44 year old Japanese billionaire fashion mogul who back in January 13, 2020 is seeking for a date to accompany him on a round trip to the moon on a SpaceX rocket by 2023 – maybe the three years preparation includes the spaceflight training for the lucky woman. The lucky woman will be selected via a TV reality dating show. The requirements are she must be single over 20 years of age and has a positive disposition. But whatever the outcome will be, it could represent a “giant leap” when it comes to making space tourism that much affordable for the rest of us.

Before the Douglas DC 3 went into service, it was the very rich who were subsidizing the cost of civil aviation between World War I and World War II. Given that Elon Musk has yet to create a DC 3 equivalent of a space vehicle that could make space tourism affordable for the masses, it is up to the world’s billionaires to foot up the bill for R n’D ing space vehicles whose ticket prices mere mortals can afford. 

Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two Crash: A Blow To Space Tourism?

Even though it is still beyond the reach of the average working class consumers, does the recent crash of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two represent a blow to “affordable” space tourism?

By: Ringo Bones 

It was supposedly a routine test flight aimed to make space tourism closer to the masses but in ended in tragedy when in October 31, 2014 a Virgin Galactic SpaceShip Two space tourism craft suffered a catastrophic failure after it separated from its mother ship White Knight Two and crashed moments later into the Mojave Desert below. Even though the crash is under further investigation to determine the cause of the tragedy according to Stuart Witt CEO of Mojave Spaceport, witnesses on the ground says that the craft appeared to be in pieces before it crashed to the floor of the Mojave Desert. One pilot was killed while the co-pilot is seriously injured. Virgin CEO Sir Richard Branson flew immediately to the crash site as soon as he heard the tragic news. Will the recent disaster represent a giant step back to “affordable” space tourism? 

Compared to the US government run NASA, private space travel and space tourism companies like Virgin with its Virgin Galactic space tourism program seems to be able to make viable space travel programs at a far lesser cost than government run counterparts. SpaceShip Two costs “only” 500 million US dollars to develop – a bargain compared to comparable spending made by similar NASA projects. While the Spaceship Two is slated to bring the first batch of space tourist to their “suborbital” destinations by 2015, there are 700 customers who already paid the ticket price of 250,000 US dollars already lining up for the experience including celebrities like Hollywood actor Tom Hanks and song-and-dance man Justin Beiber and also Lady Gaga and Katy Perry . 

By their very nature, our current spacecraft technology is inherently dangerous in their operation because they operate under the extremes of temperature and pressure. Like cryogenic fuels and oxidizers only tens of degrees above absolute zero fueling a rocket engine that runs at a temperature hot enough to vaporize steel. Not to mention reentry temperatures comparable to that of free-flowing magma. 

Humanity's 50 Years in Space: What's Next?

It's been 50 years since humanity's first forays into space, what's the next "Giant Leap" gonna be?

By: Ringo Bones

Back in April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first ever human to went into space as his VOSTOK 1 (BOCTOK 1 in Cyrillic Russian) capsule whirled one full orbit, then landed on a farm. %0 years and a few days after Gagarin and humanity's first forays into space, most of us are probably asking what's the next "Giant Leap" gonna be?

Space tourism has been slated as the next Giant Leap when it comes to space exploration as Virgin Galactic - the Richard Branson owned space tourism business - probably has no competitors yet business wise has been very busy during the last few years in developing their space tourism infrastructure. While government paid return trips to the Moon and epic missions to the planet Mars are still a few decades away, space tourism would probably be humanity's de facto next "Giant Leap" when it comes to space exploration.

Stephen Colbert: First American Comedian in Space?

With enough “political clout” to affect the outcome of a recent NASA survey on what to name a new ISS module, does Stephen Colbert has a chance to be the first American comedian in space?


By: Ringo Bones


When it comes to underwriting worthy causes that he believes in, Stephen Colbert did recently manage to sponsor the US speed-skating team after their Dutch backer got broke. Although the most audacious show of how much political clout that he has happened much earlier back in April 2009 when his very popular voting campaign on his show –The Colbert Report – almost made NASA’s campaign to name a new International Space Station swing to his favor. And given his “power over NASA”, does Stephen Colbert have that proverbial “right stuff” to be the first American comedian in space?

Although after dubbing himself as the “first clown in space”, Cirque du Soleil founder Guy LaLiberté managed to make himself the first Canadian space tourist to have a “working vacation” in the International Space Station. After raising the 35 million US dollars or so space-fare for the Soyuz Launch Vehicle in the Baikonor Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. By planning it as a platform to raise awareness of the difficulty of having reliable safe drinking water by the world’s poor with the One Drop Foundation – all for water, water for all - Guy LaLiberté doesn’t want his first space vacation to be just a mere “ego trip”. LaLiberté also trains rigorously months before his launch so that he won’t be a burden to his fellow astronauts. He even managed to perform his signature Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatics while weightless in the ISS. Luckily, someone of Guy LaLiberté’s stature was deemed too high brow to dub himself as the first comedian in space, so Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report still has a chance at the title.

Speaking of his powers over NASA, Stephen Colbert did manage to have certain vital equipment on the International Space Station named after him. Called the COLBERT which stands for Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, a namesake of The Colbert Report presenter Stephen Colbert. As everyone knows, exercise equipment such as the COLBERT is very important on the ISS because in weightless conditions, astronauts could easily suffer from osteoporosis due to calcium leaching out from their bones in an accelerated manner due to the weightless conditions of low-Earth-orbit.

But Mr. Colbert should decide soon if he wants to be the first American comedian in space because by 2010, the planned NASA space shuttle retirement will have NASA astronauts hogging the Baikonor Cosmodrome launch facilities to get to the International Space Station. So there will be no more space tourist even if they have their 35 million dollars until the time NASA finds a replacement for their about to be retired space shuttle fleet. This could be doubly bad for the space tourism industry and it might give Larry David or Jerry Seinfeld a chance to beat Stephen Colbert as the first American comedian in space.

Space Debris: A Threat to Space Commerce?

Will space commerce become more costly due to the high-profile collision of an American telecommunications satellite with an inactive Russian Cosmos military satellite back in February 10, 2009?


By: Vanessa Uy


Given that the recent on-going conversion of a former RAF airbase in Moray into the world’s first commercial spaceport means that humanity is now poised for a large-scale commercialization of space. Especially when it comes to space tourism. But after that recent high-profile collision of an American commercial telecommunications satellite with an inactive Russian Cosmos military satellite when both apparently tried to cross the same orbit window at the same time created an additional 600 or so pieces of space debris. Will this make future commercial civilian space ventures more costly, given that insurance premiums for satellites and other space-based assets need to be restructured (usually more expensive) due to the increased risks?

At orbital speeds of 17,380 miles per hour, every piece of space debris will be hitting spacecraft and satellites with the force comparable to that of an exploding fragmentation grenade. During the Reagan Administration, NASA policymakers proposed to prospective commercial satellite owners to harden – i.e. use armor plating – to their satellites as a protection against space debris. Though the proposal was swiftly abandoned when the weight burden incurred by the armor plating necessitates a more powerful rocket – hence a more expensive rocket - to launch them. Given at the time that the Russian Energia rocket – which became the world’s most powerful rocket / launch system in the 1990’s - was probably still in the planning stage.

As space tourism will probably become space commerce leading “cash cow” in a few years time, the threat posed by orbital debris cannot be easily overlooked. Especially if you want repeat customers who are willing to pay serious money just to experience a few minutes of weightlessness. Errant space debris breaching a hole in your space-bound tour bus can really give your clients a very bad day. Using Victor Szebehely’s celestial mechanics calculations to predict orbital debris path is no walk in the park either. While NORAD ’s RADAR system can only “see” certain sized objects. Smaller ones can still hit a space-bound tour bus with a force of a hand grenade.

While research studies modeling the behavior of space debris and their associated risk had been very helpful in providing data to make insurance products especially tailored for space commerce. After reading Space Debris: Models and Risk Analysis by Heiner Klinkrad, academic research such as these can be very helpful to those who want to know how insurance providers use risk assessment data in crating equitable insurance clauses intended for multi-million dollar space-based assets.

The resulting orbital debris produced by the recent satellite collision already endanger the long-term future of the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station whose structural hardware are not design to cope with debris packing energies similar to that of an exploding hand grenade. Even though future space-based assets are certainly insured, the monetary compensations are more often than not after-the-fact Band-Aids, rather than pro-active evasive procedures. Like the warnings / advisories provided by NORAD on incoming debris “seen” by their RADAR.

Moray: World’s First Commercial Spaceport?

If Virgin CEO Richard Branson already has the first purpose-built spacecraft for space tourism in the works, will Moray be it’s first spaceport?


By: Vanessa Uy


If the Scottish National Party and Virgin CEO Richard Branson gets their way, every potential space tourist with enough money will be soon going into space via the former RAF airbase in Moray. Towards the end of December 2008, the Scottish National Party or SNP has been very busy calling for the development of the former Royal Air Force base in Moray to be developed as the world’s first commercial spaceport. The world’s first designed exclusively for space tourist to access space at a cost a fraction of that currently provided by existing launch systems. Like the 20 million-dollar per person price tag of the Soyuz spacecraft of the Baikanour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The SNP ‘s Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, wants Virgin Galactic to use RAF Lossiemouth in his constituency as an airbase exclusively for use in space tourism. Virgin has already identified the base as a possible location for commercial space enterprise. “The prospect of space flight from Scotland is a serious and exciting one.” Says Mr. Robinson. Will Whitehorn of Virgin Galactic had already checked out the RAF Lossiemouth site as far back as 2007. If they succeed, will this make the UK the world’s first regular space faring society - never mind the future leader when it comes to space commerce?

Everyone’s optimism when it comes to space tourism enterprise being run by a private corporation harks back to the golden age of “barnstorming” a few years after World War I. Back then, everyone who can afford – especially rich civilians – were busy building and flying “homemade aircraft”. Some of which flew much faster compared to planes then in regular service of most government-run air corps. There are even those philanthropic types who picked disadvantaged citizens the rare fortune of experiencing flight first-hand.

Today, even though space tourists who can afford the proposed 10,000 US dollars or so price tag of rocketing 60miles or 100kilometers into space just to experience the sensation of weightlessness first hand for more than a few seconds are growing. Most of us can hardly afford a low-cost airfare to visit those Seven Wonders of the World sites – let alone a near-space joyride. But given that technology is already in the works to slash the cost of space tourism even further, who knows that there would be some of us who will actually have their regular jobs in space, rather than just “mere tourists”.