“It looked like a funeral”: the interpreter of Captain Kirk upset by his trip to space


Last year, Canadian actor William Shatner, unforgettable interpreter of Captain Kirk in “Star Trek”, made a real journey into space. An extraordinary experience from which he emerged upset.

Almost a year ago to the day, on October 13, 2021, William Shatner, the famous Captain Kirk of Star Trek, was on a real journey into space. Embarked on a Blue Origin rocket, the company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, he remained in the air for 11 minutes, rising to an altitude of 100 kilometers.

Today, the 91-year-old Canadian actor looks back in detail on this extraordinary experience in the book Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder, of which the Variety site was able to obtain an exclusive extract. An adventure that had allowed him to become the oldest person in history to travel in space and from which he came out upset.

After finding himself in weightlessness, William Shatner says he turned around to look at space. But this great enthusiast of the mysteries of the universe, who thought he was dazzled, was disappointed. “When I looked in the opposite direction, in the direction of space, there was no mystery, no majestic awe… All I saw was death.”says the actor.

“I saw a cold, dark, black void. It was unlike any darkness you could see or feel on Earth.”he continues. “It was deep, enveloping, total. I turned towards the light of the house, of the Earth. I could see the curvature of the Earth, the beige of the desert, the white of the clouds and the blue of the sky. C This was life. Feeding, supporting, living. Mother Earth. And I was leaving her.”

“Everything I believed was wrong. Everything I thought I saw was wrong”he says again. “I thought that going to space would be the ultimate catharsis of this connection that I was looking for between all human beings. That being up there would be the next beautiful step in understanding the harmony of the universe. (.. .)

I had a different experience, because I discovered that beauty is not up there but down here with all of us. Leaving it all behind has connected me even more deeply to our little planet.”

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“It was one of the strongest pain experiences I have ever encountered”admits the Canadian actor. “The contrast between the coldness of space and the nourishing warmth of Earth filled me with overwhelming sadness.

Every day we are faced with the knowledge of new destruction on Earth, which comes at our hands. (…) Things that have taken five billion years to evolve. And suddenly we won’t see them again because of the interference of humanity. It filled me with dread. My space trip was supposed to be a party, but it felt like a funeral.”

And William Shatner to finally be optimistic after this experience which somewhat depressed him: “It can cause an instant reassessment of our common harmony and a shift in focus towards all the wonderful things we have in common instead of what makes us different. (…)

May this give us a chance to dedicate ourselves to our planet, to each other, to the life and love around us. If we are able to seize this chance.”

William Shatner: Captain Kirk from ‘Star Trek’ went to space!

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William Shatner: Star Trek’s Captain Kirk went to space!

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