Tom Hanks shares hilarious reason he turned down space trip invite by Jeff Bezos
The Oscar-winner was invited on a Blue Origin space flight before William Shatner
Tom Hanks was invited to travel into space by Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos but the actor turned down the coveted and highly-expensive spot.
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday, the Oscar-winner, 65, shared the hilarious reason why.
"Is it true that you were asked to go to space by Jeff Bezos before William Shatner?" Kimmel asked his guest.
"Well, yeah, provided I pay," Hanks responded. "And, you know, it costs like 28 million bucks or something like that. I’m doing good, Jimmy. I’m doing good. But I ain’t paying [28 million] bucks. You know what? We could simulate the experience of going to space right now. It’s about a 12-minute flight. Is that about it? We could all do it in our seats right here."
Tom Hanks was invited to travel into space by Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos but the actor turned down the coveted and highly-expensive spot. (Rich Fury/Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Hanks then proceeded to act out the space flight while sitting in the chair. He shook violently – simulating take-off – and then pretended to float around before shaking again as the "capsule" returned to Earth.
"I don’t need to spend 28 million bucks to do that. I can do that at home," he joked. Hanks also made a jab at Bezos adding that he might go into space "on occasion" to experience "the joy of pretending I’m a billionaire."
Bezos blasted into space on July 21 on his rocket company’s first flight with people on board, becoming the second billionaire in just over a week to ride his own spacecraft. Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson pushed up his own flight from New Mexico and beat him to space by nine days.
Jeff Bezos (L) and his Blue Origin rocket (R). (Getty images / AP)
The Amazon founder was accompanied by a hand-picked group: his brother, an 18-year-old from the Netherlands and an 82-year-old aviation pioneer from Texas — the youngest and oldest to ever fly in space.
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"Best day ever!" Bezos said when the capsule touched down on the desert floor in remote West Texas after the 10-minute flight.
This undated photo made available by Blue Origin in October 2021 shows, from left, Chris Boshuizen, William Shatner, Audrey Powers and Glen de Vries. (Blue Origin via AP)
Blue Origin — founded by Bezos in 2000 in Kent, Washington, near Amazon’s Seattle headquarters — hasn’t revealed its price for a ride to space but has lined up spots for other auction bidders. Ticket sales, including the auction, are approaching $100 million, Bezos said. Two more flights are planned by year’s end.
On Oct. 13, 90-year-old William Shatner, aka Captain Kirk from "Star Trek," blasted into space on a Blue Origin flight.
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Shatner became the oldest person in space. "What you have given me is the most profound experience," Shatner told Bezos after climbing out the hatch. "I hope I never recover from this. I hope that I can maintain what I feel now. I don’t want to lose it."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.