William Shatner felt terrified during his voyage into space. Picture: Twitter
William Shatner felt terrified during his voyage into space.
The 90-year-old actor - who is best known for playing Captain James T. Kirk in the 'Star Trek' TV series and movies - became the oldest person to go up into space when he blasted off on Jeff Bezos' New Shepard NS-18 rocket in October, but he's now confessed to feeling scared during the voyage.
He shared: "I looked back, and I could see a wake, like a submarine under the water might leave.
"The air was tumultuous, filling in as the ship went through it.
"Then my eyes went up, and there was impenetrable blackness - the kind I’d seen once in a cave. It’s blackness that’s almost touchable. There was no spinning stars and the majesty of space. It was ominous. It was death."
Shatner embarked on the journey alongside Audrey Powers, Blue Origin's vice president of mission and flight operation, and crew members Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries.
The veteran actor hoped "the thrill of going up there might be interesting" - but it was actually much more scary and more painful than he imagined.
He told SFX magazine: "Most of the practice was about getting back into your prostrated seat in weightlessness.
"You’ve got to get back in before you hit five, six, seven Gs - you could break your back.
"You’re prone, and you’ve got to wrestle around and get out, using muscles you’ve never used - and they’re old. So I was in pain a lot, thinking, ‘Why am I bloody doing this?’
"I thought, ‘The last thing I want to do is get sick!’ - because there’s a little nausea.
"Everybody’s made plans: ‘We’re going to shake hands...’ I don’t know about that! I wanted to just look out of the window!"
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