Katy Perry's maiden flight to space is attracting criticism. The singer was part of the all-female crew that took a trip that William Shatner once called "like a funeral". Perry, Lauren Sanchez, Gayle King, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn hopped onto Blue Shepard and went to space on April 14. The entire thing lasted a few minutes, and people are pointing out the wastefulness of the exercise.

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Shatner, who was a part of Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin mission in 2021, at the time said some heart-wrenching words about being in space. He compared it to a "funeral" and a cold place where nothing exists. "My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral," he said.

Also Read: 'Vapid' Katy Perry trolled for 'tone-deaf' Blue Origin space flight that lasted few seconds

His quote from four years back is not going viral amidst the latest Blue Origin voyage to space. 

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An X user named silvergelpen posted the quote and questioned why anybody who is not an astronaut would want to go to space after hearing what Shatner said.

Shatner, famous for playing James T. Kirk on Star Trek, said after returning that he thought "being up there would be the next beautiful step to understanding the harmony of the universe."

Also Read: Katy Perry sings 'What a Wonderful World' on board Blue Origin, kisses the ground on her arrival back to Earth

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"In the film 'Contact,' when Jodie Foster’s character goes to space and looks out into the heavens, she lets out an astonished whisper, 'They should’ve sent a poet."

However, what he experienced wasn't beautiful. 

Humanity is destroying what is truly beautiful, Shatner said

Shatner said he realised that there is nothing beautiful about space. In fact, the real beauty is on Earth, which is slowly being destroyed by human activity. He said, the moment he understood this, he felt even more connected with Earth.

"I discovered that the beauty isn’t out there; it’s down here, with all of us. Leaving that behind made my connection to our tiny planet even more profound."

Being in space was like 'grieving'

Shatner admitted that being in space was a moment of grief for him. "It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness," he said.

The 94-year-old actor was saddened to see that the life that took 5 billion years to evolve on Earth is slowly dying at the hands of humanity. 

"Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna . . . things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will never see them again because of the interference of mankind," Shatner said.