--- title: "William Shatner Tried to Tell Jeff Bezos About the Glory of Spaceflight, But Bezos Interrupted Him to Spray Staff With Champagne" description: "As soon as famed \"Star Trek\" actor William Shatner stumbled out of Blue Origin's New Shepard capsule, he was born a new man. But Jeff Bezos was distracted." date: "2021-10-13" modified: "2021-10-13" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/bezos-interupts-william-shatner-to-spray-staff-with-champagne" categories: - "Future Society" - "Jeff Bezos" - "Off-World" - "Space" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "blue origin" - "jeff bezos" - "william shatner" --- # William Shatner Tried to Tell Jeff Bezos About the Glory of Spaceflight, But Bezos Interrupted Him to Spray Staff With Champagne ![As soon as famed "Star Trek" actor William Shatner stumbled out of Blue Origin's New Shepard capsule, he was born a new man. But Jeff Bezos was distracted.]() *\Image: Futurism\* It was an awkward moment. As soon as famed "Star Trek" actor William Shatner clambered out of Blue Origin's New Shepard capsule, as seen on Blue Origin's [live stream today](), he was clearly overcome, visibly shaken by the experience of seeing the Earth whip by. Shatner, alongside three other passengers, [reached an apogee of over 66 miles]() during today's launch, narrowly crossing the boundary of space, at least [depending on who you ask](). But when he tried to tell the company's co-founder, Jeff Bezos, about the profound experience, things got weird. As Shatner tried to wax poetic about the experience, Bezos listened for a few moments, but then turned away from a displeased-looking Shatner to focus on something more pressing: champagne. "Give me a champagne bottle," Bezos said, gesturing to nearby staff and interrupting Shatner. "I want one." "Here," the billionaire continued, popping the bottle and spraying Blue Origin employees with it as Shatner looked on, appearing nonplussed. "You want a little of this?" https://twitter.com/futurism/status/1448331654158819332 Shatner, in contrast, seemed profoundly affected by the once-in-a-lifetime experience, and refused a swig from Bezos' bottle. It was a brief and bizarre clash of wavelengths and priorities that encapsulated what Bezos seems to be after: building a profitable space empire, with more emphasis on glitz and glamor than the philosophical implications of space travel. To Bezos' credit, he did take a couple of minutes to listen to Shatner wax poetic about life and death after hosing down his lackeys with bubbly. "It was so moving," a shaken Shatner told Bezos. "This experience is something unbelievable," adding that every human on Earth should be able to have the same. "To see the blue color go whip by," he added. "This comforter of blue we have around us... Then you're looking into black ugliness. There's mother of Earth and comfort, and then there is death. Is that what death is?" Bezos stared at him almost incredulously. At one point, he muttered: "It's so beautiful." "No, I mean your words," he clarified. Shatner seemed genuinely moved by the experience, even if Bezos was in party mode. "I hope I never recover from this," he told Bezos. "I don't want to lose it. It's so much larger than me and life." **More on the launch:** [*William Shatner Takes Blue Origin Joyride, as Scandals Plague Company*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()