William Shatner's Feelings About Going To Space Might Surprise You
William Shatner will prepare to boldly go where few men have gone before ...
Shatner, best known for his role as Captain Kirk in "Star Trek: The Original Series," has been announced as a passenger on one of the Blue Origin rockets set to go into space, courtesy of Jeff Bezos's aerospace program. It's an immense honor, and he'll be joined on his particular spacecraft with the Vice President of Mission & Flight Operation for Blue Origins, Audrey Powers, as well as crewmates Glen de Vries and Chris Boshuizen. The excursion is set to take place on October 12, 2021, and it seems fitting for a man who inspired a generation to look toward the stars to venture into the great unknown himself.
However, even Captain Kirk is only human. And when he recently spoke about the upcoming excursion at New York Comic Con, he didn't mince words (via ComicBook.com). There's a part of him that's extremely worried about going into space.
William Shatner is 'terrified' to go into space
Shatner will become a real-life Captain Kirk in just a few days, and apparently, this voyage has been in the works for a while now. During his Comic Con appearance, Shatner recalled initial conversations about getting him into space. As he recalled, "My friend Jason Erhlick came to me about a year and a half ago, and he said he was seeing these rockets with people going into space. And, wouldn't it be something if Captain Kirk went up there? And I said, 'Jason, for God's sake, man. Nobody cares if Captain Kirk goes to space. It was 55 years ago, man.' But I'm doing well; maybe I should go up to space?"
When the opportunity to go to space presents itself, sometimes you just have to say yes. And while it sounds like he's excited about the chance to do what so few have done in the past, he still worries about the excursion. "I'm terrified. I'm Captain Kirk, and I'm terrified," Shatner admits. "I'm not really terrified — yes, I am. It comes and goes like a summer cold. I'm planning on putting my nose against the window (while in space), and my only hope is I won't see someone else looking back." We'd like to think he'd make an exception for that rule if he saw a beautiful green woman staring back at him.