William Shatner has been known to take virtual trips to space as Captain Kirk in the original 1966 Star Trek but, finally, he got the opportunity to take a space flight for real. The 91-year-old veteran Canadian star was onboard a capsule in 2022 that took him to space, piloted by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ company. However, it appears that Shatner might have had a life-changing experience observing the globe from space and he might be going through a full-blown existential crisis now. The actor detailed his space adventure in his new memoir, Boldly Go.

According to NPR, Shatner said that he "was crying" and "didn’t know what (he) was crying about." "I had to go off someplace and sit down and think, what's the matter with me? And I realized I was in grief," the actor continued. Most of us might not know what to expect if we get an opportunity like Shatner, but he sure was excited about this once-in-a-lifetime journey, as he had thought about it for nearly 60 years. Little did he know he would be overwhelmed with emotion while briefly saying goodbye to Earth.

Shatner described whatever he felt as the "overview effect," a term coined by space philosopher Frank White in his 1987 novel of the same name. "I wept for the Earth because I realized it's dying," Shatner revealed. "I saw more clearly than I have, with all the studying and reading I've done, the writhing, slow death of Earth and we on it," he added.

The Boston Legal actor is also set to appear in the documentary You Can Call Me Bill. Ahead of the SXSW premiere, he decided to share his notions on death and existentialism. "I’ve turned down a lot of offers to do documentaries before," Shatner told Variety. "But I don’t have long to live. Whether I keel over as I’m speaking to you or 10 years from now, my time is limited, so that’s very much a factor. This documentary is a way of reaching out after I die."

As the actor’s age nears a century, he reflects on the fact that he doesn’t have enough time on his hand. "The sad thing is that the older a person gets the wiser they become and then they die with all that knowledge," Shatner explains to the outlet. "What am I going to do with all these thoughts? What am I going to do with 90 years of observations? The moths of extinction will eat my brain as they will my clothing and it will all disappear."

Well, the internet took Shatner's philosophical chatter rather jokingly. Even though some supported the aging actor's words, most Twitter users wondered what happened to the veteran star post his space trip or what he encountered. Was it some Lovecraftian monster or is he just losing his cognitive abilities with age? A few netizens even pointed out Shatner's past as a "right-wing Trump supporter" and that he has now transitioned into an "existential nihilist."

We might not know what exactly prompted the actor to experience an existential crisis of sorts but since he came back from the space flight, he has been more involved with environmental activism as he thinks about humanity in a greater sense now. Well, people may joke about Shatner’s poetic description of his space travel but astronauts have often been known to return from space with a change in their thought process, just like the actor.

Let’s just hope our planet survives long enough to allow all of us a chance at space travel so we can maybe see things from Shatner's perspective.