US actor Tom Hanks poses during the photocall of US director Clint Eastwood's latest movie 'Sully' in Paris on 18 November, 2016. Photo: AFP
US actor Tom Hanks poses during the photocall of US director Clint Eastwood's latest movie 'Sully' in Paris on 18 November, 2016. Photo: AFP

Tom Hanks says he rejected Jeff Bezos's offer to go to space

Hollywood star Tom Hanks recently said in an interview that Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, offered to fly him to space before William Shatner, but joked that he would have to pay.

According to Fox News, Hanks appeared on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' where he was asked about rumours that Bezos offered to fly him to space before William Shatner. There, the Hollywood A-lister confirmed the rumour. "And, you know, it costs, like 28 million bucks or something like that...and I'm doing good, Jimmy...I'm doing good" but he said he isn't going to fork over that amount. Shatner reportedly did not have to pay.

A news outlet reported last month that the company has not publicly stated a price for a ticket, so it is possible that Hanks was referring to the auction price for one of the seats.

Hanks, who famously played astronaut Jim Lovell in Ron Howard's 1995 'Apollo 13', proceeded to jokingly "simulate" what the 12-minute experience would be like, and let's just say Blue Origin would disagree.

Last month, Shatner and three fellow passengers hurtled to an altitude of 66.5 miles over the West Texas desert in the fully automated capsule, then safely parachuted back to Earth. The flight lasted just over 10 minutes. He called it the "most profound experience," explaining "I hope I never recover from this. I hope that I can maintain what I feel now. I don't want to lose it."

As per Fox News, another news outlet had reported that Shatner, along with Audrey Powers, Blue Origin's vice president of mission and flight operations, did not pay for their flight trip. The company described them as guests for the trip.market and spread soon.

On information, eight fire-fighter units rushed to the spot but it took them nearly an hour and a half to contain the blaze and another two hours to douse it, said Rashed Bin Khaled of Fire Service and Civil Defence control room.

After the fire was doused, the fire-fighters launched a search operation and recovered the five charred bodies from the first floor of the factory building.

The victims, all factory workers, were asleep when the fire broke out, Rashed said, adding that the bodies have been sent to Mitford Hospital morgue.

A probe has been ordered to ascertain the exact cause of the fire, he said.