He Was Picked in 1961 and Reached Space at 90: 11 People Who Set Records After 80

Japanese skier Yuichiro Miura reached the top of Mount Everest on May 23, 2013, at 80 years and 223 days old. Ten years later, Guinness said his record as the oldest man to climb Everest still stood.

It was the third time he had held that record: he first set it at 70, in 2003, and took it back at 75, in 2008. Long before that, in 1970, he became the first person to ski down Everest, and on the 2013 climb he and his son made sushi at one of the high camps.

On Oct. 13, 2021, William Shatner, Captain Kirk of “Star Trek,” flew to space on a suborbital rocket at 90 and became the oldest person ever to go there.

His record stood until May 2024, when Ed Dwight, from No. 4 on this list, flew at 90 years and 8 months. Shatner, born in March 1931, spent 2026 on stage at fan conventions and announced a heavy metal album.

In April 2021, Anthony Hopkins won best actor for “The Father” and became the oldest person to win an Academy Award for acting. He wasn’t in Los Angeles that night. He was on holiday in Wales, where he was born.

The next day he posted a thank-you video from the open countryside: “Here I am in my homeland in Wales and 83 years of age. I did not expect to get this award.” It was his second Oscar.

In 1961, Ed Dwight, a test pilot, got a letter offering him the chance to become the first Black astronaut. He was selected for the training program known as the path to NASA’s astronaut corps, finished it in 1963 and was recommended, but he was never chosen, and he left the Air Force in 1966.

He became a sculptor instead, and more than 130 of his works stand in museums and public spaces. Then, on May 19, 2024, at 90, he flew to space on a suborbital flight and became the oldest person ever to go there. He called it “a life-changing experience.”

M.J. “Sunny” Eberhart of Alabama started walking when he retired more than a quarter-century earlier, and never stopped. On Nov. 7, 2021, at 83, he finished all 2,193 miles of the Appalachian Trail and became the oldest person to do it.

He hiked it in sections and out of order to catch the best weather, and he admitted to quite a few spills on slippery rocks. “You’ve got to have an incredible resolve to do this,” he said.

At the 2018 Oscars, James Ivory won best adapted screenplay for “Call Me by Your Name.” At 89, he became the oldest winner of an Academy Award ever, and it was his first win.

He had been nominated three times before as best director, for “A Room with a View,” “Howards End” and “The Remains of the Day.” On the night, he wore a shirt printed with the face of the film’s young star, Timothée Chalamet.

In 2020, Judi Dench became the oldest person ever featured on the cover of British Vogue, at 85, for its June issue.

In the interview, she said she was spending the time at home learning Shakespeare: “I am disciplining myself to learn all the sonnets. I try to learn something new every day, anything.” This fall, at 91, she is touring England with a live stage show.

In April 2021, Tom Jones’s album “Surrounded by Time” went straight to No. 1 on the UK’s Official Albums Chart. At 80 years and 10 months old, he became the oldest man ever to top it, and the oldest artist of any age to do it with an album of new songs. It was his first No. 1 album since 1999.

He told the Official Charts Company: “I am thrilled beyond words with the reception for Surrounded By Time, and to now hold these UK chart records is tremendous, just unbelievable.” This year, at 86, he has been on tour again.

Masako Wakamiya, a retired bank employee from Japan, taught herself to use a computer at 58. In 2017, at 81, she developed and released her first app, a game called “hinadan,” based on the tiered display of dolls that families set out for Japan’s Girls’ Day festival.

That same year, she was invited to a big developer conference in California and introduced there as the world’s oldest app developer. She has been giving talks about technology ever since.

In June 2022, Paul McCartney topped the bill on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, one week after his 80th birthday, and became the festival’s oldest solo headliner.

His set ran for more than two hours, and Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl came out to join him. Four years later, at 84, he is still performing.

Johanna Quaas, born in Germany in 1925, was certified by Guinness World Records as the oldest gymnast on April 12, 2012, when she performed a floor-and-beam routine on a TV record show in Rome. She was 86.

It wasn’t a one-time stunt. At the time, she was a regular competitor in the amateur senior games in Saxony, Germany.