Neil deGrasse Tyson explains why William Shatner was fine to go into space aged 90
- Tyson said that Shatner's age (90) would not affect his Blue Origin space flight Wednesday.
- He said the G-force Shatner experienced is "about what you would experience at an amusement park."
Neil deGrasse Tyson reassured people that they wouldn't have to worry about 90-year-old William Shatner traveling to space with Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' spacecraft company, on Wednesday.
"They're designed to not be that oppressive to you," the astrophysicist told TMZ of the spacecraft they are using.
"Remember 'The Right Stuff' in the old days," Tyson said, referring to the Tom Wolfe book that looked at what test pilots of the Project Mercury had to go through to be the first humans in space (it was also made into a popular movie in 1983). "The reason they went through all that training was because the capsule might have landed in the middle of nowhere and they would have go on survival for days before anyone found them."
"That is not happening today," he continued. "We know where you are at all times we get to your location basically instantly."
Bezos' Blue Origin sent Shatner and three others to the edge of space aboard its New Shepard launch system on Wednesday morning.
The entire flight onboard the New Shepard rocket lasted just 11 minutes, with passengers reaching an altitude of 62 miles and landing safely Wednesday morning. They experienced about three minutes of weightlessness.
Tyson said Shatner and the other passengers will experience g-forces, but they will be minimal.
"There's extra G-forces that you feel going up," said Tyson, "but those are tamped down, they are about what you would experience at an amusement park."
This is the company's second flight with passengers; its first carried Bezos and three others above the planet in July.