Watch William Shatner in Zero Gravity During Historic Space Flight
Earlier this week Star Trek star and fan-favorite actor William Shatner set a record for oldest person in space after he boldly hitched a ride on a Blue Origins rocket that took him into the outer atmosphere. After landing Shatner had an emotional reaction, saying: "It was so moving to me This experience is something unbelievable," later addressing Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, Shatner added, "I'm so filled with emotion about what just happened ... it's extraordinary." Now with Shatner safely back on the ground a video of his time up in space from inside the craft has been released which you can find below.
Ahead of his trip, Shatner revealed to a panel at New York Comic Con that he was "terrified" of going into space. "I don't want to be the oldest guy to go into space," Shatner said. "The phrase they use a lot of is 'our best guess is that...' I'm going up in a rocket and our best guess is it should be fine! 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 (while in space) and my only hope is I won't see someone else looking back."
Blue Origin: William Shatner awestruck in zero-gravity orbit.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 14, 2021
Video from inside the spacecraft showed the crew taking in the view from space and the weightless effects of zero gravity.
Read more here: https://t.co/rplnYmCALH pic.twitter.com/uDBHWO873i
This marks Blue Origin's second manned flight to space following the July 20 mission which included Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and Blue Origin's first customer, Oliver Daemen. Shatner wasn't alone on his trip though as he was joined by Blue Origin's Vice President of Mission & Flight Operations Audrey Powers and crewmates Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries aboard the New Shepard NS-18.
"Everybody in the world needs to do this. Everybody in the world needs to see ... it was unbelievable. I mean, the little things, the weightlessness, and to see the blue color whip by and now you're staring into blackness," Shatner further said to Bezos after landing and reflecting on his experience. "That's the thing. This covering of blue is this sheet, this blanket, this comforter of blue around that we have around us. We think 'oh, that's blue sky' and suddenly you shoot through it all of a sudden, like you whip a sheet off you when you're asleep, and you're looking into blackness — into black ugliness. And you look down, there's the blue down there, and the black up there, and there is Mother Earth and comfort and — is there death? Is that the way death is?"
