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Days after news broke that William Shatner would be hitting space with Blue Origin on October 12, the “Star Trek” actor admitted he was experiencing some nervousness ahead of the flight.
During a panel Thursday evening (October 7) at New York Comic Con, Shatner shared his feelings ahead of the Blue Origin mission and spoke about the importance of civilian space initiatives like these suborbital flights. Shatner is due to take off from Blue Origin’s West Texas launch site in a New Shepard vehicle in just four days; you can follow the mission live with Space.com.
But his excitement doesn’t mean the nerves aren’t settling in. “I am terrified,” Shatner said. “I know! … I’m the fucking Captain Kirk and I’m terrified!”
Related: William Shatner’s Blue Origin Launch on New Shepard: Live Updates
Last week Shatner announced the news of its intended flight to space, writing in a Tweeter, “Yes, that’s right, I’m going to be a ‘rocket man!’” Instantly, the sci-fi community was delighted with the idea that a character from such a renowned sci-fi franchise as “Star Trek” would in fact travel to the last frontier.
The 90-year-old Canadian actor, who also appeared in the television series “The Twilight Zone” and “TJ Hooker”, took the stage to deliver what appeared to be a one-man show, albeit an abbreviated one.
Shatner started off with a joke: “You’re here because you want to know the recipe for strawberry pie.”
But very quickly, the tone changed to that of curiosity. Shatner begged the audience to recognize and marvel at natural phenomena: from the way tree roots communicate with each other via electrochemical pulses, to how a photon mysteriously behaves like both a wave and a particle. In the process, Shatner called all of these “miracles” “unknowable” and stressed that they must be known.
Shatner then abruptly chained. “So, I’m going up,” he said. “I am scared.” The crowd erupted into laughter and applauded in support. It was the first time these fans had heard the mission confirmation straight from the source.
Shatner said he was offered the option to fly on one of Blue Origin’s crewed missions by Jeff Bezos, the founder of the company, who performed the first crewed flight of the New Shepard system in July.
“’You’ll be the oldest guy in space,” Shatner told Bezos, adding that his own response was. “I don’t want to be the oldest guy in space. I am Captain Kirk!
Shatner discussed his other connections to the world of space, citing his interview with a physicist Stephen hawking on “Raw Nerve”, which may have been the scientist’s last interview before his death.
The most charming part of the evening spotlight, however, was when Shatner referred to Carl Sagan. “Pale blue point” and spoke about the importance of physically leaving planet Earth, calling it “the experience of walking this unlimited distance”. He said that distance allows us to see how small we are in relation to the universe and returned to the subject of “the unknowable”, saying that we have a lot to observe and learn.
Despite this honest and very human admission, Shatner went on to express that he felt happy and fortunate to embark on such a historic mission.
Shatner will fly with three other passengers, including Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations. Take-off is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. EDT (1:30 p.m. GMT) and the flight is expected to last just over 10 minutes.
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