William Shatner made history when he became the oldest person to travel to space – however the experience left him in tears.
In October 2021, the “Star Trek” alum launched into the journey of a lifetime with the assistance of Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin. The Amazon empire founder credited the actor with igniting his interest in space travel.
The 91-year-old was certainly one of 4 crew members aboard the Recent Shepard rocket for the NS-18 mission. It took off from Launch Site One in West Texas. The Emmy winner recalled his experience in a latest book titled “Boldly Go: Reflections on a lifetime of Awe and Wonder.” In it, Shatner wrote that his trip to space “was imagined to be a celebration.” As an alternative, it “felt like a funeral.”
“Once I landed and got here out of the spaceship, I used to be overwhelmed by a sense and I began to weep,” Shatner recalled to Fox News Digital. “I didn’t know what I used to be crying about. And it took me a few hours to be by myself to determine what’s the matter with me. After which I spotted I used to be in grief for this beautiful world that I could see more clearly from up in space… This planet that took 5 billion years to evolve into what it’s now. And all of the multitude of things that we human beings can love and pay attention to which might be so beautiful. Never mind the elephants and the nice predators and all that stuff… however the stuff today. The kid, your fingers. I mean, every part abounds that could be a miracle and is gorgeous – and we’re destroying it.”
“Once I landed and got here out of the spaceship, I used to be overwhelmed by a sense and I began to weep,” Shatner recalled to Fox News Digital. “I didn’t know what I used to be crying about. And it took me a few hours to be by myself to determine what’s the matter with me. After which I spotted I used to be in grief for this beautiful world that I could see more clearly from up in space… This planet that took 5 billion years to evolve into what it’s now. And all of the multitude of things that we human beings can love and pay attention to which might be so beautiful. Never mind the elephants and the nice predators and all that stuff… however the stuff today. The kid, your fingers. I mean, every part abounds that could be a miracle and is gorgeous – and we’re destroying it.”
“… It’s black – it’s palpable black,” Shatner described his view from the nice beyond. “And once I was taking a look at where we were coming from and saw the beige and the blue and the white of this extraordinary place we live in, I saw death and I saw life.”
Shatner has led a decades-long profession with hit shows, resembling “The Defenders,” “T.J. Hooker” and “Boston Legal,” together with the unique “Star Trek” series and movies. Nevertheless, as of late, Shatner will not be excited about Hollywood. He said that reflecting on his life and the various lessons he learned along the way in which helped him come to terms with death.
“Well you realize, you’ll be able to write about all of it you wish, and you possibly can speak about it,” he explained. “And you’ll be able to get advice from individuals who don’t know any more about death than you do because no one knows anything. And it still doesn’t matter if you have got a belief system, which I envy… I see the vibrating connection of the universe of which we’re a component of. And it could seem more likely to me… we’re made from stardust, and we return to stardust.
“However the query that we’ll all the time ask is, what happens to this thing? We’re talking about death and anticipating death. And I don’t know of every other animal which may try this. Elephants mourn. They take the bones of [other] dead elephants. They know something. They know that there’s an idea of death there, I feel. But I don’t think they ask, ‘Where does the soul go? Where does that life energy go?’… After all, no one knows.”
“So the query is, where does the life force go?” Shatner shared. “Some people call it a soul, some people call it whatever. Where does that energy go? And possibly that’s what we’re talking about by way of life after death.”
Shatner noted that as he reflected on death, his appreciation for all times has only grown, and every day is a probability for him to proceed pursuing his passions.
And the questions proceed to persist.
“It’s not possible for [this] to be the one world,” Shatner explained. “There are other intelligent entities on the market, probably since life is so ardent. There’s such passion in life that… it’s all over the place… And every part in life has a passion to live. So, you’re thinking that that’s only on this little rocky planet?”
“… I’ve been fiddling with this concept of how connected all of us are to the universe and, much more specifically, how deeply the connections to our world that we’re,” he added.
In his book, Shatner wrote that despite his overwhelming feelings of grief, his experience traveling to space gave him “hope to my heart.”
“On this insignificance we share, now we have one gift that other species perhaps don’t: we’re aware — not only of our insignificance, however the grandeur around us that makes us insignificant,” he wrote. “That enables us perhaps a probability to rededicate ourselves to our planet, to one another, to life and love throughout us. If we seize that probability.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
William Shatner made history when he became the oldest person to travel to space – however the experience left him in tears.
In October 2021, the “Star Trek” alum launched into the journey of a lifetime with the assistance of Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin. The Amazon empire founder credited the actor with igniting his interest in space travel.
The 91-year-old was certainly one of 4 crew members aboard the Recent Shepard rocket for the NS-18 mission. It took off from Launch Site One in West Texas. The Emmy winner recalled his experience in a latest book titled “Boldly Go: Reflections on a lifetime of Awe and Wonder.” In it, Shatner wrote that his trip to space “was imagined to be a celebration.” As an alternative, it “felt like a funeral.”
“Once I landed and got here out of the spaceship, I used to be overwhelmed by a sense and I began to weep,” Shatner recalled to Fox News Digital. “I didn’t know what I used to be crying about. And it took me a few hours to be by myself to determine what’s the matter with me. After which I spotted I used to be in grief for this beautiful world that I could see more clearly from up in space… This planet that took 5 billion years to evolve into what it’s now. And all of the multitude of things that we human beings can love and pay attention to which might be so beautiful. Never mind the elephants and the nice predators and all that stuff… however the stuff today. The kid, your fingers. I mean, every part abounds that could be a miracle and is gorgeous – and we’re destroying it.”
“Once I landed and got here out of the spaceship, I used to be overwhelmed by a sense and I began to weep,” Shatner recalled to Fox News Digital. “I didn’t know what I used to be crying about. And it took me a few hours to be by myself to determine what’s the matter with me. After which I spotted I used to be in grief for this beautiful world that I could see more clearly from up in space… This planet that took 5 billion years to evolve into what it’s now. And all of the multitude of things that we human beings can love and pay attention to which might be so beautiful. Never mind the elephants and the nice predators and all that stuff… however the stuff today. The kid, your fingers. I mean, every part abounds that could be a miracle and is gorgeous – and we’re destroying it.”
“… It’s black – it’s palpable black,” Shatner described his view from the nice beyond. “And once I was taking a look at where we were coming from and saw the beige and the blue and the white of this extraordinary place we live in, I saw death and I saw life.”
Shatner has led a decades-long profession with hit shows, resembling “The Defenders,” “T.J. Hooker” and “Boston Legal,” together with the unique “Star Trek” series and movies. Nevertheless, as of late, Shatner will not be excited about Hollywood. He said that reflecting on his life and the various lessons he learned along the way in which helped him come to terms with death.
“Well you realize, you’ll be able to write about all of it you wish, and you possibly can speak about it,” he explained. “And you’ll be able to get advice from individuals who don’t know any more about death than you do because no one knows anything. And it still doesn’t matter if you have got a belief system, which I envy… I see the vibrating connection of the universe of which we’re a component of. And it could seem more likely to me… we’re made from stardust, and we return to stardust.
“However the query that we’ll all the time ask is, what happens to this thing? We’re talking about death and anticipating death. And I don’t know of every other animal which may try this. Elephants mourn. They take the bones of [other] dead elephants. They know something. They know that there’s an idea of death there, I feel. But I don’t think they ask, ‘Where does the soul go? Where does that life energy go?’… After all, no one knows.”
“So the query is, where does the life force go?” Shatner shared. “Some people call it a soul, some people call it whatever. Where does that energy go? And possibly that’s what we’re talking about by way of life after death.”
Shatner noted that as he reflected on death, his appreciation for all times has only grown, and every day is a probability for him to proceed pursuing his passions.
And the questions proceed to persist.
“It’s not possible for [this] to be the one world,” Shatner explained. “There are other intelligent entities on the market, probably since life is so ardent. There’s such passion in life that… it’s all over the place… And every part in life has a passion to live. So, you’re thinking that that’s only on this little rocky planet?”
“… I’ve been fiddling with this concept of how connected all of us are to the universe and, much more specifically, how deeply the connections to our world that we’re,” he added.
In his book, Shatner wrote that despite his overwhelming feelings of grief, his experience traveling to space gave him “hope to my heart.”
“On this insignificance we share, now we have one gift that other species perhaps don’t: we’re aware — not only of our insignificance, however the grandeur around us that makes us insignificant,” he wrote. “That enables us perhaps a probability to rededicate ourselves to our planet, to one another, to life and love throughout us. If we seize that probability.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
