Elon Musk Had a Few (Surprisingly Gracious) Words for William Shatner Ahead of Space Flight Shatner became the oldest person to make it to space on Wednesday.
By Emily Rella •
William Shatner is now officially the oldest person to travel into space at age 90, thanks to a successful launch on Wednesday in the New Shepard rocket ship alongside three other crew members.
Shatner's flight marks the second-ever successful space-tourism flight with paid customers, both operated by Jeff Bezos' aerospace company Blue Origin.
Of course, there's been no shortage of subtle jabs (and dare we say, subtle jealousy) from rival and founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, towards Bezos and his successes in space. Although this time, Musk was uncharacteristically understated.
Related: William Shatner Moved to Tears After Trip to Space: 'I Hope I Never Recover From This'
Ahead of Shatner's trip, NASA tweeted good luck to the former Star Trek star alongside a photo, saying, "We wish you all the best on your flight to space. You are, and always shall be, our friend."
Quietly, Musk sub-tweeted with words of encouragement for Shatner. "Godspeed Captain," he penned.
Godspeed Captain
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 13, 2021
Amid both of Blue Origin's human spaceflights, Musk has not publicly issues any formal congratulatory statement, though he did wish Bezos and crew good luck ahead of their first flight back in July.
"Best of luck tomorrow," he tweeted beneath a Blue Origin tweet that included a picture of the crew.
Related: Elon Musk Says He's Sending Jeff Bezos a Silver Medal After Surpassing Him in Wealth
More typically, the two billionaires have been known to go at it on the social media platform. Musk most recently made headlines after responding with a silver medal emoji to one of Bezos' tweets that read, "Don't let anyone tell you who you are."
The emoji was referencing a prior joke from Musk back in September when he said that he would gift Bezos with a "silver medal" after he surpassed him on Forbes' billionaire list.
As of Thursday morning, Musk's net worth was an estimated $209.2 billion.
Bezos' was an estimated $192.5 billion.
