William Shatner, of 'Star Trek' fame, will travel to space aboard Blue Origin flight

The man who first played the space-traveling Captain Kirk in the Star Trek franchise is preparing to actually visit the edge of space for the first time on Wednesday.

Actor and director William Shatner is one of four people slated to blast off in the space company Blue Origin's latest rocket launch, which is scheduled to lift off this morning.

Updated October 13, 2021 at 10:01 AM ET

"I'm going up into space. I don't know how many people who can say that," Shatner said in a promotional video tweeted by Blue Origin.

"And it looks like there's a great deal of curiosity about this fictional character, Captain Kirk, going into space. So let's go along with it and enjoy the ride," he added.

At age 90, Shatner will become the oldest person to fly into space.

The rocket, New Shepard, is named after American astronaut Alan Shepard.

The four passengers — there is no pilot onboard — will be in the air for 11 minutes and will experience weightlessness for part of the journey.

Blue Origin, which is owned by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, launched its first human spaceflight in July, with Bezos and three others onboard. [Copyright 2021 NPR]