William Shatner reflects after becoming oldest person to go to space: "You're immersed in things that are indescribable"
William Shatner is back on Earth, but still over the moon about his trip to the edge of space.
Shatner, best known as Captain Kirk on "Star Trek," rode a Blue Origin rocket with three other passengers Wednesday, rising more than 66 miles above the Earth in just minutes.
The 90-year-old actor became the oldest person ever to go into space. He described to "CBS Mornings" what he felt as he rose above the Earth.
“Holy s—, I am 90”: @WilliamShatner made history as the oldest person to go to space, but he didn’t quite realize how difficult it would be — until he started training. https://t.co/Uui1DnIatA pic.twitter.com/3Hvcut6ACJ
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) October 14, 2021
"I'm looking out the window, and it turns out that nobody told me about it. I mean, the limitations, there's about a 50-mile skin that the Earth has of air. The air reflects the light and turns blue. So we see a blue sky. We grow up and live in a blue sky, right? The spaceship — and I like to call it that — punched through that at 2,500 miles per hour, 50 miles, 2,500 miles an hour so within the count of two or three it goes from blue, bang, and suddenly it's black," Shatner said. "And you see this black, and that's space and eternity and the mystery of the cosmos. But it's black, and it's death and just down there is the blue -- you're on top of the blue looking down on Earth."
Awed by the feeling, Shatner said he was nervous before blasting off and even briefly was afraid.
"You're lying back there and you know there's all this explosive material. And we know it's safe. They've made this, Blue Origin has made it safe. I want to emphasize that. So it's safe. But it's one thing to say it's safe, and it's another thinking 'Oh, I remember O-rings, and I remember explosions," he said.
The actor said describing the feeling of being in G-force is difficult to do but said it was an emotional experience.
"You're floating. Your gut is floating, your head is floating. The outside is, you're immersed in things that are indescribable," Shatner said. "I was so moved. And what I wanted when I said I want to hold on to it, it's like a truth that suddenly comes to you. And you don't want to dissipate it. You don't want to lose it. You want to hold it for the rest of your life."