The space race has intensified between the top players, especially SpaceX and Blue Origin. This applies to sending not only rockets but also people to space, as part of their space tourism services. Both made their debut last year, but now, Blue Origin has suffered a delay in its next launch.
It has been confirmed that the upcoming launch, which will be the fourth crewed launch and 20th overall with New Shepard, has been postponed from March 23 to March 29. Additionally, Pete Davidson, slated to be one of the passengers of the flight, will not make it to space this time.
Davidson’s reasons for not being a part of the crew are not known, but this means that the space adventures of the actor and comedian will be limited to the screen for now. Davidson is also the boyfriend of Kim Kardashian and a well-known face at “Saturday Night Live.”
Currently, the strength of the crew stands at five. This includes Marty Allen (angel investor), Marc Hagle (Tricor International CEO) and his wife Sharon, Jim Kitchen (professor at the University of North Carolina), and George Nield (founder-president of Commercial Space Technologies and ex-associate administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.) The new and final member will be announced soon.
The original launch was supposed to occur at 13:30 UTC from Launch Site One in West Texas aboard the New Shepard rocket. The spacecraft had earlier taken Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark to space last year on the inaugural flight.
Later on, it also took Star Trek actor William Shatner, NFL star Michael Strahan, and Laura Shepard, the first-born of Alan Shepard, the first American in space and after whom the spacecraft has been named.
The crew will reach nearly 3,50,000 feet in the atmosphere before descending back to the planet’s surface. The journey from launch to touchdown will last about 11 minutes.
