Sat, Sep 09, 2006
Contrary To Song, Shatner Is No Rocketman
We admit this next story
has only the thinnest ties to the aerospace community... but it was
simply too ironic to pass up.
William Shatner, the 75-year-old actor best known for portraying
Captain James T. Kirk on the evergreen "Star Trek" television
series, has turned down an offer to fly onboard Virgin Galactic's
first suborbital passenger flight in 2008.
Why? He is too scared.
"I'm interested in man's march into the unknown but to vomit in
space is not my idea of a good time," said Shatner to the Daily
Mail. "Neither is a fiery crash with the vomit hovering over
me."
(Note: There are few ways to guarantee your
words will be selected for ANN's Quote of the Day feature -- but
combining the words "fiery" and "vomit" in the same sentence
certainly improves your odds -- Ed.)
"I do want to go up but I need guarantees I'll definitely come
back," Shatner added.
That's perfectly understandable... although for a free ticket
into space (valued at $215,000), we'd expect the man best known for
uttering the phrase "to seek out new life and new
civilizations... to boldly go where no one has gone before" to,
well, suck it up.
After all... Shatner never faced situations as frightening as
Sigourney Weaver, star of the "Alien" movies, did... but she's
already booked her space on the flight.
In the end -- and contrary to his oft-maligned rendition of the
classic Elton John song -- William Shatner is no "rocketman" after
all. But Captain Kirk's reach will still extend into the stars,
even if the actor who portrayed him won't.
That's right... Virgin's first spaceship will be called the
"Enterprise."
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