Tom Hanks Says He Declined Jeff Bezos' Space Invite

Tom Hanks has revealed that Jeff Bezos offered him a ride to space on his Blue Origin rocket but he declined. His reason? The hefty price tag.

"It costs like $28 million or something like that," Hanks said during an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Tuesday. "And I'm doing good, Jimmy — I'm doing good — but I ain't paying $28 million."

Hanks continued to dismiss the idea of flying, jokingly suggesting that it is something everyone could do. 

"You know what, we could simulate the experience of going to space right now," he said, mimicking shaking in a rocket while in his chair, saying, "I don't need to spend 28 million bucks to do that."

During the interview, Hanks admitted to Kimmel that he would consider a spaceflight if it were free. 

"I would do it on occasion just in order to experience the joy — pretending I'm a billionaire," he said.

Last month, William Shatner became the oldest person to fly to space when he boarded a Blue Origin rocketship on a suborbital trip that then landed in the Texas desert. Speaking to Bezos after the trip, Shatner thanked him for the "most profound experience."

"I am so filled with emotion about what just happened. It's extraordinary," Shatner said. "I hope I never recover from this. I hope that I can maintain what I feel now. I don't want to lose it. It's so much larger than me and life. It hasn't got anything to do with the little green men ... it has to do with the enormity and the quickness and the suddenness of life and death."

Shatner recalled the breathtaking moment he looked down and saw Earth.

"You're looking into blackness, into black ugliness. And you look down — there's the blue down there and the black up there. There is Mother Earth and comfort, and there is — is there death? I don't know. Is that death? Is that the way death is? It was so moving, this experience."

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