William Shatner jokes with crowd at New York Comic Con about space flight: 'I'm Captain Kirk and I'm terrified'

3 years ago 461

(CNN)William Shatner spoke to a assemblage astatine New York Comic Con connected Thursday evening, conscionable days earlier helium volition blast into abstraction connected a sub-orbital flight.

Much of his 45-minute code included speech of the 90-year aged actor's different projects, including his album, but adjacent the extremity helium explained however helium got funny successful blasting off.

Jason Ehrlich, a person and the shaper of Shatner's amusement "Better Late than Never," came to him astir a twelvemonth and a fractional agone and encouraged him to see going into space.

"'You know, they are starting to nonstop these rockets up with radical into space. Wouldn't it beryllium thing if Captain Kirk went up there,'" Ehrlich said to Shatner.

"Jason, for God sakes, cipher cares astir -- hum going up successful - it was 55 years agone -- my God antheral -- um, hum, uh -- good possibly I should spell up into space," Shatner recalled, detailing however helium came astir to wanting to go.

Shatner hoped helium would beryllium connected the archetypal Blue Origin flight, but "all of a sudden" Jeff Bezos and his member were announced for the trip. "Then determination was an aged lady... and past determination was a young lady," helium said to a laughing audience.

"So yet they came to maine connected the 2nd thing. They said 'all right, however would you similar to spell up. You'll beryllium the oldest feline successful space,'" Shatner recounted. "I don't privation to beryllium known arsenic the oldest guy. I'm bloody Captain Kirk!"

Last week helium went to Blue Origin motorboat tract successful Texas for 2 days to hole for the flight.

"It's caput numbingly endless," helium said of the scenery. "You thrust 100 miles and past you get to a small municipality called Van Horn, and past you crook left. And you thrust different 50 miles."

He described the assurances fixed to him by Blue Origin unit arsenic not wholly reassuring.

"The operation that they usage a batch was 'it's our champion conjecture that...' Your champion guess?" helium told the assemblage incredulously.

He past recounted archetypal problems with the Hubble Space Telescope and the events starring to the detonation of the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger.

Shatner said past abstraction question disasters sometimes springiness him pause.

"We're quality beings, we marque mistakes," helium said. "I'm thinking, I'm going up successful a rocket and our champion conjecture is it should beryllium fine. So determination is simply a small niggling occurrence of terror. I'm terrified. I'm Captain Kirk and I'm terrified!"

To the crowd's laughter helium said the feeling is not constant.

"You know, I'm not truly terrified. Yes I am. It comes and goes similar a summertime cold," helium told the laughing audience.

He besides talked astir what helium looked guardant to seeing successful space.

"Three minutes successful the weightlessness of space, and the quality of this oasis of Earth, and -- I was readying connected pressing my chemoreceptor against the window, you know, and my lone anticipation was I wouldn't spot idiosyncratic other looking back." Shatner said, referencing the classical 1963 Twilight Zone occurrence wherever helium played a antheral who saw a carnal connected a the helping of a level astatine 20,000 feet.

He added erstwhile his daughters were increasing up they would person him recreate the country each clip they were connected plane.

Shatner has not yet figured retired what words helium volition utter erstwhile helium reaches space, helium said, but has been going implicit words that different radical person used.

"What tin I accidental that is different," helium asked rhetorically. "I'll effort and deliberation of thing to suggest however profoundly I consciousness astir the acquisition of looking into the limitless distance."

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