Duke unimpressed by Shatner’s rocket trip
William condemns space tourism after ‘Star Trek’ actor takes flight to the final frontier aged 90
THE Duke of Cambridge has offered a damning indictment of space tourism, warning that the “world’s greatest brains” should be focused on repairing the planet rather than “trying to find the next place to go and live”.
His comments came as a jubilant William Shatner, 90, stepped out of a rocket in a Texas desert having become the oldest human to reach space, declaring the experience as “extraordinary” and “profound” while adding: “Everybody in the world needs to do this.”
The Duke, 39, was apparently less than dazzled. Speaking to BBC Newscast on BBC Sounds, before the inaugural Earthshot Prize award ceremony on Sunday, he said: “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.”
He also warned that young people were increasingly suffering from “climate anxiety” as they witnessed the “unnerving” prospect of their futures under threat.
He said the current way of life risked “robbing from our children’s future” and urged those taking part in the forthcoming COP26 climate conference to focus on action rather than “clever speak, clever words”. The Duke said it would be an “absolute disaster” if his eldest son, Prince George, eight, was still having to campaign about the same issues in 30 years’ time.
Shatner joined the Duke in issuing an impassioned plea for humanity to look after the planet and the beautiful “comforter of blue” that surrounds us after touching back down to Earth yesterday.
As science fiction merged with reality, the actor, who played Captain James T. Kirk in the TV series Star Trek, was the first nonagenarian to make the trip to the final frontier, on board a rocket launched by Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin space tourism company.
After his capsule touched down Shatner said: “It was unbelievable, unbelievable, the little things, weightlessness … but to see the blue cover whip by you and now you’re staring into blackness, that’s the thing.”
He said everyone should see what he had seen, so that they would know how fragile the planet is. “What’s keeping us alive is thinner than your skin, it’s a sliver, it’s negligible, this air. Oh my goodness, I’ve had a journey.”
As Captain Kirk, Shatner commanded the starship USS Enterprise on its mission to “boldly go where no man has gone before”.
The show was first broadcast in 1966 and inspired generations of devoted fans known as “Trekkies”. It also helped galvanise interest in the real Nasa programme to get to the Moon. Mr Bezos is a Star Trek fan and invited Shatner to make the trip. The Amazon founder drove him to the launch pad and closed the capsule hatch shut behind him.
Shatner and three fellow passengers – a Blue Origin executive and two paying customers – hurtled 66 miles into the air – passing the Karman line which is internationally regarded as the start of space. The fully automated capsule safely parachuted back to Earth in a flight that lasted just over 10 minutes.
After they landed in the desert Mr Bezos opened the hatch and said: “Hello, astronauts. Welcome to Earth!”
In the Duke’s 35-minute interview, recorded at Kensington Palace, he said he hoped the Earthshot Prize, a £50 million initiative to promote and fund innovative ways to repair the planet, will “stimulate solutions and action that a lot of people haven’t necessarily produced yet”.
“I’m hoping, you know, the prize will galvanise a lot of people in positions of responsibility to, you know, go further, bigger and actually start to deliver,” he added. “If we’re not careful we’re robbing from our children’s future through what we do now. And I think that’s not fair.”
Last year, Global Action Plan reported that a third of UK teachers were seeing high levels of climate anxiety in pupils, while 77 per cent of students said that thinking about climate change makes them anxious.
Looking ahead to the Cop26 summit, where world leaders gather in Glasgow from Oct 31, the Duke said it was critical to “communicate very clearly and very honestly about what the problems are and what the solutions are going to be”.
He added: “We can’t have more clever speak, clever words but not enough action.”
Both the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will attend the Earthshot Prize ceremony at Alexandra Palace in north London.