See William Shatner inside the space capsule 0:38
London (CNN Business) -
William Shatner fired a rhetorical rocket at Prince William after the future king criticized space tourism.
Shatner, who took to space earlier this week in one of Amazon's (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos's rockets, said British royalty has "the wrong idea" in saying that solving problems on Earth should be prioritized. about tourist trips to space.
Blue Origin wants to know if you would like to buy a ticket to the space: how much will it cost?
"He is a charming, kind and polite man, but he has the wrong idea," Shatner said during an interview with Entertainment Tonight.
"The idea here is not to say, 'Yeah, look at me. I'm in space,'" Shatner added, stating that trips like his represent a "small step" toward relocating polluting industries to space.
Prince William calls on Musk and Bezos to save Earth 2:22
The 90-year-old "Star Trek" actor said a power generation base could be built 400 kilometers above Earth and used to power homes and businesses here.
"The prince is missing the point," he added.
"All it takes is ... someone as rich as Jeff Bezos [to say], 'Let's go up there.'
Without naming names, William slammed billionaires focused on space tourism in an interview Thursday with the BBC, saying they should spend more time and money saving Earth.
Bezos, SpaceX boss Elon Musk and Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson are taking tourists into space.
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"We need some of the best brains and minds in the world focused on trying to fix this planet, not trying to find the next place to go live," said the prince.
The second in line to the British throne declared that he had "absolutely no interest" in going into space.
He also expressed concern about the environmental impact of space tourism, saying there was a "fundamental question" about the carbon cost of space flight.
Almost in tears, William Shatner recounted his journey into space 8:09
Shatner became the oldest person to travel into space when his ship, a suborbital space tourism rocket built by Blue Origin, skimmed the edge of Earth's atmosphere and threw him into weightlessness.
Shatner described the reward of floating above the Earth as "deep."
The actor said that space travel is not something a person can understand until "you're up there and you see the black darkness, the ugliness."
"From our point of view, space is full of mystery ... but at that moment, it is darkness and death. At this moment down here, when we look down, [Earth] is life and nourishment. That is what everyone needs to know, "Shatner told CNN after his flight.
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