For William Shatner, space has been a place of both real and symbolic darkness.
The actor who played Captain Kirk on “Star Trek” writes in his new memoir, “Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder,” that he felt “deep melancholy” on his space flight with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin in October.
According to an extract from his book that appeared in Variety, he once said, “I enjoy the wonder of the cosmos.” “That has all been a source of great joy to me for a long time now… When I turned my gaze away from Earth and into space, however, I saw nothing mysterious or inspiring there; rather, I saw only the finality of death.”
Blue Origin Offers Space Travel
The now-91-year-old, who made history as the oldest human to orbit Earth, saw a “cold, dismal, black vacuum” throughout the voyage. The phenomenon that Shatner is describing is the overview effect, which is a change of perspective on Earth and its inhabitants that many astronauts describe experiencing during spaceflight.
According to an interview Shatner gave to CNN earlier this year, he was unable to hold back his tears after returning from the trip because he was “feeling sad for the annihilation of Earth.”
On board, Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket with Shatner was entrepreneur Glen de Vries in the healthcare industry, veteran NASA engineer Chris Boshuizen, and Blue Origin executive Audrey Powers. During the 11-minute flight, they felt zero gravity and saw Earth’s curved surface.
Blue Origin, which Bezos started in 2000 and has sponsored with his own money, has sent hundreds of paying users to the edge of space. Passengers ride a rocket to an altitude of 62 miles, where they enjoy microgravity before parachuting down to Earth in a specially designed capsule.
Some celebrities, like Shatner and former Professional football star Michael Strahan, are granted complimentary flights, whereas others pay well over $20 million.
In 2021, Bezos and other pioneers rode along in the first crewed launch.
