The Blue Origin capsule, with four passengers on board, including William Shatner, who is known for playing Captain Kirk in the Star Trek series, landed in West Texas on Wednesday after a round trip journey to space of about 10 minutes. 

At 90 years of age, the Canadian actor has made history by becoming the oldest person to reach the "final frontier." 

The voyage was the second manned rocket flight of the company of billionaire Jeff Bezos, which aspires to establish itself as a key player in the burgeoning space tourism sector. Shatner was joined by Blue Origin executive Audrey Powers, Planet Labs co-founder Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries of clinical research platform Medidata Solutions.

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Bezos, the founder of Amazon and owner of the rocket, also made the trip to space aboard the New Shepard rocket in July. He shook hands with each of the passengers before they boarded the rocket and closed the capsule hatch. 

The rocket took off vertically, before the capsule broke off in flight and propelled past the Karman Line, which marks the border of space at an altitude of about 100km, according to the international convention. 

After a few minutes in space, the rocket began a free fall back to Earth, which was slowed down by three huge parachutes.

Speaking about his voyage into space after landing safely back on Earth, Shatner summarized the trip as "unbelievable." 

He told Bezos: "What you have given me is the most profound experience I can imagine. I'm so filled with emotion about what just happened." 

As with the 600 or so astronauts who have gone before him, Shatner marveled at the experience of weightlessness and the stunning view of Earth from space.

Describing Earth's blue skies as a thin line between life and death, he explained hearing a beeping noise and said that suddenly "you're into the black." 

Star Trek, which was first aired in the early days of the space race, chronicled the adventures of the USS Enterprise spacecraft and aroused the interest of the world in the NASA program. 

"Captain Kirk ... represents 'the final frontier' perhaps more than anyone else for a couple different generations of people, in the U.S. and worldwide," screenwriter and Star Trek historian Marc Cushman told AFP. 

Competition in the space tourism sector is heating up. Virgin Galactic, which offers a similar experience, launched its founder Richard Branson in July, a few days before Bezos. In September, SpaceX sent four private citizens on a three-day trip around the globe. 

Video editor: Natalia Luz