William Shatner: How Much Did William Shatner Pay To Go To Space?


As many of you are probably aware, William Shatner has been in space. Well, he was in space. He’s now back, on earth, and a lot more famous than ever before. So it stands to reason that he might be worth a lot more money than he used to be. But, as you can imagine, this has led to a lot of questions about just how much Shatner actually paid to go to space. So let’s just get this out of the way now, shall we?

How Much Did William Shatner Pay to Go to Space?

William Shatner, better known for his work as Captain James T. Kirk on the original Star Trek series and films, has been on a quest to get into space, and that’s no joke. Formerly an actor, writer, director, and producer, Shatner is a man with a lot of ambition. Evidently, he also has a lot of money. So it stands to reason that he’d be willing to pay a lot of money to get into space.

However, It appears he paid nothing for the ticket. Mr. Shatner, along with Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations were listed as guests for the trip.

Two others on the space trip— Glen de Vries, co-founder of the clinical-research software company Medidata Solutions, and Chris Boshuizen, co-founder of the Earth data company Planet Labs Inc.— however, paid for their tickets, according to Blue Origin. But the company hasn’t disclosed prices, and the men declined to comment on how much the expedition cost them.

Read More: William Shatner’s post-space speech was beautiful, but Bezos didn’t care

Is This Just a Hype Trip to Promote Space Tourism?

Some have been questioning whether this is more of a publicity stunt to promote space travel. Well, if you were going to do something like this, what better way to do it than with a celebrity like William Shatner?

Blue Origin’s launch of Mr. Shatner, who played Captain Kirk on the original “Star Trek’’ series, and three others made the flight a high-profile event in news coverage and on social media platforms. The event had widespread coverage on news outlets, and the company live-streamed it. Having someone like Mr. Shatner on board helps generate attention for the flight, said Joseph Czabovsky to the Wall Street Journal.

“Everybody in the world needs to do this,” William Shatner told Mr. Bezos, after the landing. In brief, it seems that Shatner is trying to raise awareness about the need for human exploration of space. Finally, a real man of action, eh, Captain Kirk?

After its capsule landed, Blue Origin said they planned one more flight with people on board this year and is working on several trips for 2022. According to reports, Jeff Bezos plans to charge between $200,000 and $300,000 for space rides. However, we would think that most people would be a bit more interested in going to space if it didn’t cost them so much money.

Read More: William Shatner admits he’s “scared” of going to space in Blue Origin’s rocket

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