William Shatner wept for hours after he traveled to space aboard the flight of New Shepard, the space tourism rocket developed by Jeff Bezos' company Blue Origin, in October.
He was visibly emotional after the flight, comparing the expansive blackness of space to death. Now, in a new interview with CNN, the actor admitted he could not stop crying after the experience.
"It took me hours to understand what it was, why I was weeping," he said. "I realized I was in grief. I was grieving for the destruction of the Earth."
Shatner mentioned the lasting impact on him by the 1962 book "Silent Spring" about environmentalism by biologist Rachel Carson.
"It's gonna get worse," Shatner told CNN of the environmental crisis. "It's like somebody owing money on a mortgage, and they don't have the payments and they think, Oh well, let's go to dinner and not think about it."
After his flight, Shatner said he wished "everybody in the world" could see what he witnessed from space.
"This comforter of blue that we have around us. We think, Oh, that’s blue sky. And then suddenly you shoot through it, all of a sudden, like you whip off a sheet when you’ve been asleep, and you’re looking into blackness. Into black ugliness," he said, according to The New Yorker.
"There is mother and Earth and comfort, and, there . . . is — is there death? Is that death? Is that the way death is?" he continued, adding that traveling to space was "the most profound experience" he could imagine.
In an interview with Den of Geek, Shatner described the trip as "rejuvenating" in a way that "compels you to worry about the future."
"Whereas when you get to a certain age — I remember hearing an author say, 'Well, I’m not worried about that. I’m out of here soon.' That phrase has rung in my mind for a long time," Shatner said. "I know I don’t want to utter it, 'I'm not worried about rising seas, because I'm out of here.' I’m worried about rising seas, and rejuvenating my worry, because of my family."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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