William Shatner Reveals Physical Toll Going To Space Took On His Body At 90

Hollywood star William Shatner, better known as Captain Kirk of “Star Trek” fame, made history on Wednesday when he became the oldest person to ever go to space at 90 years of age. Now, Shatner is opening up about the experience and revealing the physical toll that it took on his body at his advanced age.

William Shatner Humbled By Space Journey

While appearing on the “Today” show, Shatner admitted that the experience of going to space at 90 humbled him, specifically about his physical abilities at his age. 

“Another factor of this whole thing is, I keep saying ‘Oh, yeah, no, I’m not 90. I ride horses!’” he said. “The whole physical experience of mounting that gantry, of getting into that chair, of being weightless and having 5 Gs and suddenly, as I’m coming down, I’m thinking ‘You know something, I’m 90 years old!’”

Shatner travelled to space on the Blue Origin sub-orbital capsule developed by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. 

Backstory: William Shatner To Reach The Final Frontier For Real

Nothing Could Have Prepared William Shatner For Space

Shatner explained that the simulators on Earth were nothing compared to what it was like to really be in space.

“We had a simulator, they simulate what they say you’re going to feel and it doesn’t come anywhere near it,” he explained. “[They say] ‘Here you’re going to be in weightlessness and you’ve got to grab a hold of something, don’t push too hard with your hands, just use your fingertips because you’ll bounce off the ceiling…’ You can talk about weightlessness all you want but the feeling of weightlessness, the actual feeling of weightlessness is indescribable!”

Shatner went on to add that this was one of the moments he felt his age compared to the other three people he was in space with, as they were decades younger than him.

“First of all, your body doesn’t have any pressure, so suddenly your body is expanding,” the nonagenarian said. “Secondly, you’re floating and I don’t want to turn somersaults, I don’t want to throw Skittles, I want to look out the window!”

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Questioned If He Could ‘Endure’ Some Of The Flight

Fox News reported that Shatner later admitted that he was unsure if his body could “endure” some of the G-force that came with the flight. 

“At 5 Gs, you’re pressed, the skin is going back and you’re thinking ‘Can I endure this? When will this end?’” he explained. “But it’s over in a moment because you hit this edge of air that’s around us. This 50-mile skin of air that causes the blue sky.”

In the end, William Shatner felt that his entire space exploring experience can simply be summed up as “indescribable.”

Just imagine going actually into space? And at age 90. This guy really knows how to boldly go and make the most of his final frontier.

We applaud this real-life Captain Kirk for breaking the record, and for showing the world once again that age really is just a number!