HAMPTON TOWNSHIP, NJ. (THECOUNT) — Glen de Vries, William Shatner’s crewmate in last month’s Blue Origin rocket trip to the edge of space, was one of two men killed Thursday in a plane crash in New Jersey, officials said.
Vries, 49, of New York City, and Thomas P. Fischer, 54, of Hopatcong, New Jersey, died following the small aircraft crash shortly before 3 p.m. in Hampton Township, according to New Jersey State Police.
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De Vries joined Shatner and other crew members aboard the Oct. 13 flight developed by Blue Origin, the private spaceflight company founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating Thursday’s crash, police said. The FAA could not be immediately reached Friday for comment.
The New Jersey Herald reported the FAA alerted public safety authorities that a single-engine Cessna 172 went missing near Kemah Lake, about 50 miles northwest of Newark. Emergency crews found the wreckage about an hour later, the newspaper reported.
The aircraft was “destroyed” in the crash, which occurred “under unknown circumstances,” an initial report by the FAA states, according to the Herald.
Geo quick facts: Hampton Township is a township in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township’s population was 5,196, reflecting an increase of 253 from the 4,943 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 505 from the 4,438 counted in the 1990 Census – Wikipedia.