Tom Hanks says he was offered William Shatner’s space flight first but refused to pay $28m

‘I’m doing good. But I ain’t paying 28 million bucks’

Tom Hanks has claimed that he was offered William Shatner’s flight into space first, but was unwilling to pay a $28m (£20.5m) fee for it.

Shatner was launched into space last month as part of a scheme masterminded by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. The 90-year-old Star Trek star became the oldest person to have travelled into space.

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night (2 November), Hanks discussed his own flirtation with space travel.

“Is it true that you were asked to go to space by Jeff Bezos before William Shatner?” asked the host.

“Well, yeah, provided I pay,” said Hanks. “And, you know, it cost 28 million bucks, or something like that.

“I’m doing good, Jimmy, I’m doing good. But I ain’t paying 28 [million] bucks.”

Shatner and Hanks aren’t the only Hollywood stars to have been offered a trip into the great beyond.

Last year, it was announced that Tom Cruise would be travelling into space to film a new movie, alongside director Doug Liman. The film is working in conjunction with Nasa and Elon Musk’s SpaceX programme to orchestrate the project.

Tom Hanks on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!' (ABC)

Earlier this year, Russian actor Yulia Peresild and filmmaker Klim Shipenko became the first people to shoot a fiction film in space.

The movie. entitled Challenge, will tell the story of a surgeon who is dispatched to a space station in order to save a crew member with a deadly heart condition.