“I hope I never recover from this”
On October 13, 2021, well-known actor William Shatner became the oldest person to ride a rocket into space. Shatner is 90 years old.
For many of us, William Shatner has been part of our lives nearly as long as we can remember. In recent years he has had roles on comedies such as “Boston Legal,” and has pitched any number of products on TV ads.
Shatner is most iconic, of course, for his role as Captain James T. Kirk, in the “Star Trek” TV series and later films.
Captain Kirk…
For a long time, the character of Kirk is how I thought of Shatner himself. For years, I hadn’t seen him in many other roles, besides some guest appearances on other TV shows.
It was something of a surprise (and a bit of a disappointment) to me, in more recent years, to find that William Shatner the actor didn’t seem all that much like Captain Kirk. He became known for TV advertisements for things like Priceline®, legal services, health and insurance products. He decreased in my esteem, from the authoritative Captain Kirk, to just another infomercial pitchman. His role as Denny Crane on “The Practice” and “Boston Legal” seemed sort of goofy. I know, it was just a character and not the real person. But somehow I wanted William Shatner to be more like Captain Kirk, and as someone who had grown up with Star Trek, it was disappointing that he had become Denny Crane.
And along the way, William Shatner got old.
In my mind, he has always been the vigorous, midlife Captain Kirk. But suddenly William Shatner turned 90 years old. And I’m not 18 anymore, I’m 64 myself. So it happens. But I have to say that William Shatner, the real person, looks pretty dang good for someone aged 90. He’s officially old–it is hard to characterize 90 any other way–but he is redefining what it means to be old.
So it was a significant cultural moment when, on October 13, William Shatner–the actor, the one who played Captain Kirk on screen–launched into space as part of the crew of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin project. I had missed some of the build-up to this, until just a few days before the launch. Then suddenly, 90 year old William Shatner–Captain Kirk–was all over the news. He is the oldest person ever to travel into space (low-level space, but space nonetheless).
The story captured the attention of many people, myself included. In the couple of days prior to the launch, I followed the story with interest. Evidently, William Shatner/Captain Kirk was a childhood hero of Jeff Bezos. Most people who fly on one of the private space exploration companies missions can expect to pay a significant sum. Shatner, however, flew as a guest of Bezos.
In interviews before the flight, Shatner reminded everyone that his role as Captain Kirk was just acting. Claiming that he had never actually seen a complete episode of the original TV series, and had only watched one of the films (the one he directed), Shatner told one interviewer that it was just acting, right? They never left the set in Hollywood, much less went to space. Bezos, and many in the media however, were captivated by the idea of Captain Kirk on a real-life flight into space. The Final Frontier.
When approached about the idea, Shatner replied, “For God’s sakes, man, nobody cares about Captain Kirk going up into space. You know, it was 55 years ago!”
Evidently enough people did care, including those with the power to make it happen. Shatner remarked, “I’ve heard about space for a long time now…I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.”
And so it was arranged.
On the morning of the launch, I tuned into the news programs broadcasting it, to the interviews, and the countdown to the launch itself.
The ironically shaped Blue Origin rocket (how I wish it looked more like the iconic Saturn V of my youth!) launched straight and true into a blue Texas sky. Cameras followed the ascent until it disappeared beyond view. Commentators told us what was likely happening inside the craft, although it would have been nice to have live-action footage.
Then, only a few minutes later, the components of the craft made their descent. First the rocket itself, which came down and came to rest on a designated landing pad! That in itself was pretty remarkable. A recyclable rocket, landing upright exactly as planned.
Following just after, the capsule with the passengers came down, the descent slowed by a trio of enormous parachutes. The capsule plopped with a cloud of dust right onto the Texas desert floor.
Very soon, the passengers (are they officially “astronauts”? Experts disagree on this) exited the capsule, to the enthusiastic welcome of the ground crew and other well-wishers.
By the way, space flight, while becoming more routine, is not for the faint of heart. Shatner’s 90 year old body experienced up to 6 G’s. Many people pass out or get tunnel vision at even 4 or 5 G’s. So one has to admire the physical stamina and stress involved.
And yet, almost immediately after his exit, the ever-loquacious William Shatner began riffing on his thoughts of the experience.
What came out was surprisingly profound and moving. Speaking out loud to Jeff Bezos to process his thoughts, Shatner’s response was an unfiltered stream of consciousness. Here was someone who only moments before had experienced the liminal space between the heavens and the earth. Speaking not as a scientist, engineer, or professional pilot, this actor/author/musician attempted to put words together to describe the indescribable.
I found myself unexpectedly moved by his words. Among those words were these:
“I’m so filled with emotion about what just happened. It’s extraordinary,” Shatner said. “I hope I never recover from this. I hope I can maintain what I feel now.”
“It has to do with the enormity and the quickness and the suddenness of life and death and the … oh, my God”
“The moment you see the vulnerability of everything. It’s so small. This air which is keeping us alive is thinner than your skin. It’s a sliver, it’s immeasurably small when you think in terms of the universe.”
You can see his entire post-flight interview here: William Shatner describes space flight.
This man, William Shatner, has lived for more than 50 years in the shadow of his iconic character, Captain Kirk. Whether he welcomed it or not, their identities overlapped. Shatner evidently used to resist this identification, but in more recent years he has come to peace with it.
And now, at age 90, Shatner has had the chance to overlap the two identities with an adventure shared by only a very few. For a few minutes, on-screen before us, William Shatner became less Denny Crane or Priceline® pitchman, and at least a little more of the Captain Kirk that I had long wanted him to be.
May he Live Long and Prosper.
Related post: https://cliffordberger.com/those-things-you-always-wanted-to-do/
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