STAR Trek’s William Shatner has hit back after Prince William slammed ‘space tourism’ following the actor’s flight to the edge of space.
The 90-year-old became the oldest ever astronaut on October 13 – the same day Duke of Cambridge urged “the world’s greatest brains” to concentrate on “repairing this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live”.
He was speaking out against the likes of billionaires Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson who are locked in a bitter space race.
The trio have been roundly criticised, including by the United Nations, for being hugely environmentally unfriendly.
Speaking to a BBC Newscast about the new space race, William 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.
“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.”
But Captain Kirk star Shatner today said the duke had “got the wrong idea” and his trip was actually the first of many “baby steps” to help shift polluters off Earth.
He told Entertainment Tonight: “He’s a lovely Englishman. He’s going to be king of England one day.
“He’s a lovely, gentle, educated man, but he’s got the wrong idea.”
Instead of finding an alternative home for humans, Shatner said his trip to space was actually about protecting planet Earth.
“The idea here is not to go, ‘Yeah, look at me. I’m in space’,” he said.
“The landing that consumed all that energy and people to take a look and go, ‘Oh, look at that.’ No.
“I hope the prince gets the message, this is a baby step into the idea of getting industry up there, so that all those polluting industries, especially, for example, the industries that make electricity, off of Earth.”
Shatner wants to see energy companies building bases above earth to preserve the planet.
He said: “We’ve got all the technology, the rockets, to send the things up there.
“You can build a base 250 or 280 miles above the Earth and send that power down here, and they catch it, and they then use it, and it’s there.
“All it needs is somebody as rich as Jeff Bezos [to say], ‘Let’s go up there’.”
‘PRINCE IS MISSING THE POINT’
Shatner added: “The prince is missing the point. The point is these are the baby steps to show people [that] it’s very practical. You can send somebody like me up into space.”
The Hollywood star made history aboard Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket, declaring: “Everybody in the world needs to see this.”
He flew 66.5 miles above the Earth’s atmosphere during the 11-minute journey.
The actor was part of a four-person crew who left the surface of the earth to launch into low earth orbit at about 11am.
Bezos was there to welcome the passengers back to the ground.
“Hello, astronauts. Welcome to Earth!” he exclaimed.
Bezos is said to have made more than $100million in selling tickets to board his rocket.
The capsule, dubbed the ‘New Shepard’ after the first astronaut Alan Shepard, was built with human spaceflight in mind, allowing Shatner and other passengers to be strapped into harnesses but avoid wearing helmets.
‘DAWN OF A NEW SPACE AGE’
The world’s rich and famous are queueing up to buy a flight amid a new billionaire space race.
Virgin Galactic took Richard Branson 86km into the sky two months ago before Jeff Bezos did the same.
Branson said: “We’re here to make space more accessible to all. Welcome to the dawn of a new space age.”
Companies including Musk’s SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Space Adventures want to make space tourism more common.
Critics have called it a “pointless billionaire space race”, a “vanity project” and not a test of the world’s superpowers but “merely the egos of three billionaires”.
