After news broke that William Shatner would be flying to space with Blue Origin on October 12, the actor from Star Trek admitted that he is feeling some pre-flight anxiety.
Shatner spoke out about his feelings in advance of Blue Origin's mission, and the importance of civil space initiatives such as these suborbital flights during a panel at New York Comic Con on Thursday night (Oct. 7). In just four days, Shatner will take off from Blue Origin's West Texas launch site on a New Shepard vehicle. Space.com will live-blog the event.
However, his excitement does not mean that nerves aren’t starting to set in. Shatner stated, "I'm scared." "I know !... I'm Captain Bloody Kirk, and I'm terrified!"
Related: William Shatner's Blue Origin launch for New Shepards: Live updates
Shatner announced his planned flight to space last week. He wrote in a tweet, "Yes, it is true, I'm going be a rocket man!" The idea of a character from "Star Trek", a well-known sci-fi franchise, actually traveling to the last frontier enchanted sci-fi fans instantly.
The Canadian actor of 90 years, who has also appeared on television's "The Twilight Zone", and "T.J. Hooker", took to the stage to perform what looked like a one-man performance, though it was abbreviated.
Shatner started with a joke: "You're here to learn the recipe for strawberry pie."
The tone quickly changed to one that was more curious. Shatner asked the audience to recognize and marvel at natural phenomena, from how tree roots communicate via electrochemical impulses to how a photograph mysteriously behaves both as a wave or a particle. Shatner called all these "miracles", and stressed that they must be known.
Shatner abruptly veered off. He said, "So, I'm going to the top." "I'm scared." The crowd cheered and laughed, and roared with laughter. This was the first time that these fans heard confirmation from the source.
Shatner stated that he was given the chance to fly with Blue Origin's crewed missions in July by Jeff Bezos, the founder of the company. He flew the first crewed flight under the New Shepard system's New Shepard system in July.
Shatner stated that Bezos said to him "You'll become the oldest man in space," and added that his response was. "I don’t want to become the oldest man in space. Captain Kirk!
Shatner spoke about his other connections to space. He cited his interview with Stephen Hawking, physicist, on "Raw Nerve." This may have been his last interview before his death.
Shatner's reference to Carl Sagan’s "Pale Blue Dot” and his discussion on the importance of physically leaving Earth was the best part of the evening spotlight. He called it "the experience that you can walk into an infinite distance." He stated that distance allows us see how small we really are in relation to the universe. Finally, he returned to the topic "the unknown," stating that there is much to be observed and learned.
Shatner admitted that this was an honest and very human admission. However, he said that he is excited and blessed to embark on such a historic mission.
Shatner will fly along with three passengers, including Audrey Powers (Blue Origin's vice-president of mission and flight operations). The flight will take off at 9:30 AM EDT (1330 GMT). It is expected that the flight will last slightly longer than 10 minutes.
