The 'Star Trek' actor insists the future King of England is missing the point after the British royal suggests saving planet Earth is more important than space tourism.
- October 15, 2021
AceShowbiz - "Star Trek" icon William Shatner has defended his recent spaceflight after Prince William suggested the price of the trip could have been better spent here on earth.
TV's Captain Kirk was moved to tears after completing his 11-minute mission into space on Wednesday (13Oct21) with Blue Origin, the company founded by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, but the Duke of Cambridge was far from impressed.
Although the second in line to the British throne did not mention Bezos by name, he told the BBC, "We need some of the world's greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live."
"It really is quite crucial to be focusing on this (planet) rather than giving up and heading out into space to try and think of solutions for the future."
Hours later, 90-year-old Shatner, who is now the oldest person to have travelled to space, told Entertainment Tonight the Prince has "the wrong idea."
"He's a lovely Englishman. He's going to be King of England one day," Shatner told the TV news show. "He's a lovely, gentle, educated man, but he's got the wrong idea."
Shatner insisted space exploration could actually help the earth by exporting industry to the stars.
"The idea here is not to go, 'Yeah, look at me. I'm in space'," he added. "I would tell the Prince, and I hope the Prince gets the message, 'This is a baby step into the idea of getting industry up there... We've got all the technology, the rockets, to send the things up there... You can build a base 250, 280 miles above the Earth and send that power down here... All it needs is... somebody as rich as Jeff Bezos (to say), 'Let's go up there.' "
Shatner added, "The Prince is missing the point. The point is these are the baby steps to show people it's very practical. You can send somebody like me up into space."
