Britain's Prince William has launched an attack on space tourism, urging more attention on problems closer to home ahead of the COP26 climate summit.

The comments by Queen Elizabeth II's grandson were airing in a BBC interview later Thursday, a day after "Star Trek" star William Shatner became a real space traveller on Blue Origin's second crewed mission.

The mission replayed the company's maiden human flight in July, which included its founder Jeff Bezos of Amazon and was seen as a breakthrough for the emerging space tourism sector.

But Prince William said: "We need some of the world's greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live."

Virgin Galactic, which offers a similar experience of a few minutes' weightlessness and a view of the Earth's curvature from the cosmos, launched its founder Richard Branson in July, a few days before Bezos.

As satellites collect larger and larger amounts of data, engineers and researchers are implementing solutions to manage these huge increases.

The cutting-edge Earth science satellites launching in the next couple of years will give more detailed views of our planet than ever before. We'll be able to track small-scale ocean features like coastal currents that move nutrients vital to marine food webs, monitor how much fresh water flows through lakes and rivers, and spot movement in Earth's surface of less than half an inch (a centimeter).

"Star Trek" actor William Shatner finally became a real space traveler on Blue Origin's second crewed mission Wednesday, calling it the most profound experience of his life.

"It was unbelievable," said the 90-year-old Canadian, known to the sci-fi show's legion of "Trekkies" as the daring Captain James T. Kirk, a role he first played more than half a century ago.

He was joined on the 11-minute journey beyond Earth's atmosphere and back again by three others: Blue Origin executive Audrey Powers, Planet Labs co-founder Chris Boshuizen, and Glen de Vries of Medidata Solutions.

A New Shepard rocket took off from the company's West Texas base around 9:49 am (1449 GMT) after experiencing two brief delays, eventually soaring to 66 miles (106 kilometers) above sea level.

Hollywood's Captain Kirk, 90-year-old William Shatner, blasted into space Wednesday in a convergence of science fiction and science reality, reaching the final frontier aboard a ship built by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company.

The "Star Trek" hero and three fellow passengers soared an estimated 66 miles (106 kilometers) over the West Texas desert in the fully automated capsule, then safely parachuted back to Earth in a flight of just over 10 minutes.

Shatner became the oldest person in space, eclipsing the previous record—set by a passenger on a similar jaunt on a Bezos spaceship in July—by eight years.