William Shatner might have placed a space captain on TV, but he’s turned down the chance for a real life trip to space.

82-year-old Shatner who played Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek turned down an offer from Sir Richard Branson to travel into space aboard Virgin Galactic’s Spaceship Two.

“He actually said he's frightened of airline travel - which is slightly disillusioning. Captain Kirk is scared of flying,” Branson is quoted as saying.

But Shatner says he said no thanks for another reason, one that I think it pretty legit. Shatner says Branson expected him to foot the $200,000 bill! “He wanted me to go up and pay for it and I said: ‘Hey, you pay me and I’ll go up. I’ll risk my life for a large sum of money.’”

Virgin says they’re getting ready to launce their first spaceflights next year and claims to have sold 700 tickets so far.

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