Last year and at the age of 90, William Shatner went into space, in the footsteps of the character he played for several years in the saga star trek.
Invited by Blue Origins, the actor and novelist has become the oldest man to go into space. His expedition, loaded with a strong symbol, will have marked him as it has marked all those who have preceded him for several decades. But his testimony and the lessons he draws from this escapade convey neither joy nor wonder.
Risky expeditions
Blue Origin, founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, is one of New Space’s most prominent companies. Funded from its creation by the president of Amazon, it has been flying the New Shepard capsule since 2015, which has several successful flights to its credit. The company therefore has enough confidence in itself to sell a round trip outside the stratosphere at a golden price. Space tourism must have its precursors, and that is why certain personalities are invited to take part in these expeditions. This is how Wally Funk, one of the first women to join a space program in the 1960s, NFL star Michael Strahan or Captain Kirk’s interpreter William Shatner, became real astronauts for a few minutes.
Despite Blue Origin’s insurance, such a trip is not without risk. The Canadian actor testifies to his fears before takeoff: ” The ground crew never ceased to reassure us throughout the trip. Everything will be alright. Do not worry about anything. Everything will go well. Of course, it’s easy for them to say that, I thought to myself. When D-Day finally arrived, I couldn’t get the Hindenburg out of my head. “An apprehension which is not unjustified, since a few months later, an auxiliary engine of New Shepard ignited during an ascent, causing the crash of the rocket which then transported no passenger.
” A cold, dark and black void »
In his new book titled Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and WonderCaptain Kirk’s interpreter writes: ” I like the mysteries of the universe… Stars that exploded years ago and whose light still reaches us later, black holes that absorb energy, satellites that show us entire galaxies in areas that thought to be entirely devoid of matter…all of this excited me for years. Far from fiction, William Shatner’s real journey into space provokes a completely different story.
Here is another excerpt from his book, describing the emotions that ran through him as he gazed at Earth from space:
It was one of the most intense feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious cold of space and the nurturing warmth of the Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day we are faced with the announcement of a new destruction of the Earth, caused by ourselves: the extinction of animal species, flora and fauna. Things that took five billion years to evolve and that we will never see again because of human intervention. It filled me with dread. My space trip was meant to be a celebration; instead, it looked like a funeral.
William Shatner is undoubtedly not the only one to have felt strong emotions since the beginning of the space conquest. One can imagine that such a view from above is enough to upset anyone’s perception of life and our planet… Even the famous Captain Kirk.
Source : variety
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