Medical research entrepreneur Glen de Vries, who flew into space last month with actor William Shatner aboard a rocket operated by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, died in a small plane crash in New Jersey, state police said on Friday.
The plane crashed in Sussex County, New Jersey, northwest of New York City, on Thursday, police said, adding that De Vries, 49, and another man aboard the plane, Thomas Fischer, 54, were killed .
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating the crash, according to the state police.
“We are devastated to hear of the sudden death of Glen de Vries. He has brought so much life and energy to the entire Blue Origin team and its crewmates, ”Blue Origin said on Twitter.
De Vries, an instrumented private pilot and founder of clinical research company Medidata Solutions, took to space last month on a suborbital joyride aboard astro-tourism firm Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket along with three other civilian crew members.
the The most notable of the four New Shepard passengers was Shatner, the 90-year-old actor best known for his role as Captain James T. Kirk on the original 1960s television show “Star Trek”. The October 13 launch made Shatner the oldest person to ever fly into space.
The other two crew members for this flight were former NASA engineer Chris Boshuizen and Blue Origin Vice President Audrey Powers.
Medidata Solutions, founded by de Vries in 1999, is considered the most widely used clinical research platform in the world according to a de Vries career profile published by Blue Origin when he was selected as one of four New Shepard passengers.
He was an assistant professor for life sciences and healthcare at the French software company Dassault Systemes, which took over Medidata in 2019. He was also the trustee of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
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