For decades, astronauts have described their visits to space as “breathtaking” and humbling, a reminder of Earth’s fragility and humanity’s responsibility to serve as stewards of our home planet.

Actor William Shatner, who participated in a suborbital space tourism journey last year, witnessed the same effect, but he made a very distinct observation when he turned his focus from Earth to the vast expanse of the cosmos: “All I saw was death,” he writes in a new book.

Shatner’s biography, “Boldly Go,” which he co-wrote with TV and film writer Joshua Brandon, is filled with similarly bleak anecdotes about Shatner’s experience bolting above the Earth’s atmosphere aboard a real-life rocket following his memorable stint playing a spaceship captain on the 1960s TV show “Star Trek” and several franchise films in the following decades.

“I saw a cold, dark, black void.” It was unlike any other blackness on the planet. It was profound, enveloping, and all-encompassing. I returned my gaze to the light of home. The curve of the Earth, the beige of the desert, the white of the clouds, and the blue of the sky were all visible to me. That was life. Life needs to be nurtured and sustained. Mother Nature. Gaia. And I was leaving her,” says an excerpt from Variety’s original publication of “Boldly Go.”

“Everything I had thought was wrong,” it states. “Everything I had expected to see was completely wrong.”

While he expected to be astounded by the view of the cosmos without the filter of the Earth’s atmosphere, he was instead shocked by the realization that people are progressively destroying our home planet. Shatner claimed that he experienced one of the most intense feelings of grief he had ever experienced.

Simon & Schuster published Shatner’s book on October 4, 2011. CNN spoke with him in June about the book, his voyage to space with Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin, and what’s next for the 91-year-old. The following is a transcript of the interview, which has been modified for length and clarity.

“I read Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring” maybe 55 or 60 years ago. She wrote about environmental challenges that still exist today. Since then, I’ve been a verbal ecologist. I’ve been conscious of the changing Earth and my concern for all of us.

It’s the same as owing money on a mortgage and not being able to make the payments. And they think to themselves, “Oh well, let’s go to dinner and forget about it.”

But it’s so pervasive! The possibility of an apocalypse is quite real. It’s difficult to persuade people — particularly certain political figures — that this is no longer on our doorstep. It is present in the house.

When I arrived to space, I wanted to walk to the window and see what was out there. I peered out into the vastness of space. There were no bright lights. It was complete darkness. I thought I saw death.

Then I returned my gaze to the Earth. Given my background and having studied a lot about Earth’s history over 5 billion years and how all the beauty of nature has evolved, I considered how we’re killing everything.

I was overcome with pity for the Earth.

I didn’t realize it until I was on the ground. I began crying as soon as I stepped out of the spacecraft. I had no idea why. It took me hours to figure out why I was crying. I realized I was mourning the Earth.

I don’t want to forget, and I haven’t forgotten, the significance of that occasion.”

“I became aware that humans may be the only creature surviving on this planet who are aware of the vastness and magnificence of the universe.”

“Consider what we’ve discovered in the previous 100 years, compared to the 200,000 years that humans have existed. The Big Bang has shown how mountains formed. And I kept thinking about how humanity is gradually becoming a knowledgeable creature while also dying itself.”

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