World enews: William Shatner says trip to space highlighted how society is ‘gambling’ with the planet

William Shatner has spoken about how his recent trip to space highlighted some home truths about the climate crisis.

The 91-year-old actor, who is best known for his role as Captain James T Kirk in Star Trek, became the oldest person to travel to space last year when he departed in a rocket as part of Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin space travel scheme.

Speaking to The Sunday Times about the trip, the actor explained that he filmed part of it for a forthcoming documentary about his life.

“When I went up there and I could see the curvature of the Earth and the vast blackness surrounding it, it really hit home how much we don’t know and how we’re gambling with our planet,” he said.

“I couldn’t help but think about the terrible burden that Clive, my two-year-old great-grandchild, is facing when he gets older.”

At one point on the journey, the actor and the others on board experienced the feeling of weightlessness when they reached the outskirts of space.

They were there for roughly 10 minutes before heading back to Earth.

The actor has previously described it as “the most profound experience I can imagine”.

Shatner went on to discuss the process of filming the documentary.

“Filming a documentary about my life recently let me reminisce about my childhood,” he said.

“I was part of my high-school football team and then I played freshman football at university, but I was kicked off the team because I was too small, so I started doing acting instead.”