Emotional Shatner reflects on space trip: ‘Everybody in the world needs to do this’

In emotional remarks following his historic trip to space, “Star Trek” actor William Shatner said Wednesday that “everybody in the world” needs to have the same experience.

Shatner, 90, became the oldest person to travel to space during his brief trip on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.

“Everybody in the world needs to do this,” he told Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos after landing. “Everybody in the world needs to see it.”

The New Shepard launched at roughly 8:50 a.m. local time on Wednesday after a slight delay, reaching an altitude of 66 miles, to the line recognized as the edge of space. The trip lasted roughly 10 minutes. 

BREAKING: @WilliamShatner lands back on Earth as the oldest person to ever go to space.

Here’s his astonished and emotional reaction.

MORE: https://t.co/qCcQeamHmX pic.twitter.com/MAKpOIiKQY

— ABC News (@ABC) October 13, 2021

Reflecting on his experience, Shatner described the trip as the “covering” of blue sky being suddenly taken away.

“The covering of blue is the sheet, this blanket, this comforter that we have around us. And we think, ‘oh, that’s blue sky’ … and all of a sudden, you whip the sheet off you when you’re asleep, and you’re looking into blackness, into black ugliness,” he said.

“It’s like a beat, and a beat and suddenly you’re through the blue and you’re into black. And you’re into — and you know it’s — it’s mysterious, it’s the galaxy,” Shatner continued. “But what you see is black and what you see down there is light and that’s the difference. And not to have this?”

Shatner thanked Bezos for giving him “the most profound experience I could’ve asked” for, adding that he was “so filled with emotion” about the trip. 

“I hope I never recover from this. I hope I can maintain what I feel now. I don’t want to lose it,” he said. “It’s so — it’s so much larger than me and life.” 

Bezos took his own flight to space in July.