No George Takei hasn't clubbed his former captain on the noggin.

Rather some are questioning his claim to have been the first Star Trek actor in space.

In 1992 Mae Jemison became the first black woman to travel into space and the following year appeared as a crew member in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Did Shatner Claim That?

Not that we can tell. The AP article that Truth or Fiction links to includes no such claim.

It does tell us what Shatner took into space with him though:

As a favor to Bezos, Shatner took up into space some “Star Trek” tricorders and communicators — sort of the iPhones of the future — that Bezos made when he was a 9-year-old Trekkie. Bezos said his mother had saved them for 48 years.

That's one mystery cleared up.

Back to this claim though, possibly someone somwhere on the internet did but the two primary claims made about Shatner and the trip are: first Starfleet captain and oldest person. Those are both true.

Even Had Anyone Claimed That

English is sometimes an ambiguous language and that's the case here. Their argument in favour of Mae is thin though because relies on an interpretation which wouldn't be shared by the majority.

Tom Cruise was to be the first actor in space. Soon after that was announced, Russia announced their own plans to put an actor in space. Russia ultimately won that race, beating Shatner by about a week.

In this case everyone interprets "actor in space" as a person whose profession is acting, who travels to space. Mae wouldn't qualify because she did them the other way around.

[ Main Image: Shatner as Captain Kirk. Credit: Paramount via Cinemablend. ]

References

Dunn, Marcia and Taber, Rick (October 14, 2021). William Shatner, TV’s Capt. Kirk, blasts into space. AP News.

Garcia, Arturo (October 19, 201). Was William Shatner the First ‘Star Trek’ Actor to Reach Outer Space? Truth or Fiction.

Gueno, Marianne (May 14, 2021). Russia chose a 36-year-old patriotic film star to send to space, sparking a race with Tom Cruise to be first to shoot a movie in orbit. Business Insider.

Wikipedia. Mae Jemison. (viewed October 20, 201)