William Shatner admits that he’s ‘terrified’ to go into space
‘I’m terrified. I’m Captain Kirk, and I’m terrified. I’m not really terrified — yes I am,’ actor said
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Your support makes all the difference.William Shatner has revealed that he’s “terrified” to go into space ahead of an excursion taking place next week.
The 90-year-old Star Trek actor who portrayed Captain James T Kirk of the USS Enterprise in the beloved sci-fi franchise, is due to fly to space with the aerospace company Blue Origin on 12 October.
The actor will join Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of Mission and Flight Operations, on board the vessel New Shepard NS-18.
During a panel discussion at the New York Comic Con on Thursday (7 October), Shatner recalled the 1986 Challenger crash that killed all the astronauts on board.
He said the people in charge of his vessel have repeatedly said everything should be fine, however, those words haven’t been of much comfort for Senior Moment actor.
“I’m thinking, ‘I’m going up in a rocket and our best guess is it should be fine?” Shatner said. “I’m terrified. I’m Captain Kirk, and I’m terrified. 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 [once I’m in space], and my only hope is I won’t see someone else looking back.”
Shatner also revealed that his friend Jason Erhlick came to him 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?” the Canadian actor revealed.
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Live coverage of the launch will begin 90 minutes prior to take-off and will be available to watch on BlueOrigin.com.
Lift-off is currently targeted for 1.30pm UTC / 2.30pm BST.
The flight follows after Blue Origin’s first human flight on 20 July, which saw Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos and aviation pioneer Wally Funk embark on a historic mission to space.
The group was joined by Blue Origin’s first-ever customer, Oliver Daemen.
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