William Shatner — AKA Captain Kirk — Actually Went To Space This Morning, And He Was Incredibly Emotional About It
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Twenty-seven years after his final mission as Captain Kirk, Star Trek actor William Shatner broke past Earth's atmosphere today to visit the edge of space.
The actor traveled almost 350,000 feet above ground level, alongside Audrey Powers, Blue Origin's VP of mission and flight operations, and two paying customers: Glen de Vries and Chris Boshuizen.
Though the flight was about just 10 minutes long, Shatner called the experience one of "the most profound" in his life.
Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos is a longtime fan of Star Trek, and offered the actor a spot on Blue Origin's fully autonomous rocket, New Shepard.
When Blue Origin officially announced that Shatner would be an astronaut on its second human flight, the actor said he was excited to witness the great unknown for himself: "I've heard about space for a long time now. I'm taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle."
Upon landing, Shatner was left almost speechless: "I'm so filled with emotion about what just happened. I hope I can maintain what I feel now. I don't want to lose it," he expressed. "It's so much larger than me and life."
Shatner went on to describe how leaving Earth made him think about life versus death. "To see the blue color whip by you, and now you're staring into blackness, that's the thing... There is Mother and Earth and comfort and there is…is there death?"
Shatner had always been interested in the possibility of visiting space, which is what made this opportunity so special to him: "There is an adventure in my life that I would not have had, had I not done this."
Even before his flight, Shatner knew he would be amazed by seeing Earth from up above. "I want to look at that orb and appreciate its beauty and its tenacity," he explained.
The 90-year-old actor became the oldest person in history to cross into the final frontier. Wally Funk, who traveled on Blue Origin's first human flight, previously held the record at 82 years old.
Funk was joined by Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, and Oliver Daemen — the youngest person to travel to space — in July.
The original Star Trek series, which Shatner starred in, inspired research and new technology for real-life space exploration.
In addition to exploring outer space, fighting evil, and learning about new beings, Star Trek also tackled topics our society had yet to examine at the time, like interracial relationships and equality.
William Shatner can now officially say he has boldly gone where *most* of man has not gone before...
