At 90 years old, Star Trek veteran William Shatner becomes the older person to ever go into space, and he recommends everyone follow him.
Until today, the oldest person to ever go into space was Wally Funk, an 82-year-old aviator who joined Amazon founder Jeff Bezos when he slipped the surly bonds of Earth on his first on his first Blue Origin ride back in July. Now, a few rides later, none other than 90-year-old Star Trek icon William Shatner — Captain Kirk himself — has also blasted off, and according to Deadline the experience brought out the poet in him.
“I hope I never recover from this,” Shatner said after his 11-minute flight just outside Earth’s atmosphere. He called his brief sojourn to the stars “unbelievable” and “profound.”
Shatner ruminated on “what is life and what is death,” perhaps developing lyrics for an upcoming album. “What is unknown until you do it is this pillar, is this soft blue, the beauty of that color and it is so thin, and you are through with it in an instant…The jeopardy, the vulnerability of everything is so small. This air that is keeping us alive is thinner than your skin.”
And naturally, Shatner enthusiastically recommends this experience to everyone, telling Bezos that “everybody in the world needs to do this.” Everybody in the world has a few million between the couch cushions, right?
It is cool that Shatner got to go to space — for real this time rather than aboard the Starship Enterprise set — before his chances run out, although obviously this kind of experience remains well out of reach for the vast majority of people on the planet. Still, Star Trek is about nothing if not optimism for a brighter future. Maybe one day…
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