Captain Kirk Will Not Boldly Go

The iconic spaceman, Captain James T. Kirk, vowed to "boldly go where no man has gone before". The actor who played Kirk, William Shatner, has other ideas:

The Star Trek legend was offered a ticket by Richard Branson onboard Virgin Galactic's first passenger flight in 2008. But Shatner, fearing he would be ill in space or the starship would crash, ironically revealed he's terrified of space travel.

The 75-year-old actor said: "I'm interested in man's march into the unknown but to vomit in space is not my idea of a good time. Neither is a fiery crash with the vomit hovering over me."

Onboard the Starship Enterprise, sci-fi fans saw Shatner freely 'explore the final frontier, seeking out new life and strange new worlds' in 79 episodes of the 40-year-old TV series .

However, apart from the Virgin craft being called Enterprise in tribute to the intrepid show, the similarities end there for Shatner as he insists getting him into space will cost Vigin boss Branston a lot more than just a free £114,000 ticket.

He added: "I do want to go up but I need guarantees I'll definitely come back."

I can't blame him. I can't say that I'd be too excited about a ride on the first passenger flight into space. Let them work out the bugs for awhile and call me later.