Pete Davidson ready to fly into space

Blue Origin started late Thursday that Pete Davidson, the “Saturday Night Live” comedian, and actor, will not be a part of the company’s next spaceflight. Pete Davidson of “Saturday Night Live” will be among the next crews to travel to space aboard a rocket and capsule built by Blue Origin, the private spaceflight business founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Davidson will be a part of the New Shepard program’s fourth human flight and the program’s 20th overall flight, which is set to launch on March 23, according to Blue Origin.

Following “Star Trek” legend William Shatner, 90, who became the oldest person to reach space in October when he boarded a Blue Origin flight, and NFL Hall of Famer and broadcaster Michael Strahan, who boarded a flight in December, the actor and comedian is the latest celebrity set to travel to the edge of space. Passengers on the aircraft will experience four minutes of weightlessness after flying to the edge of space at almost 65 miles.

The “King of Staten Island” star will be part of a six-person crew that includes Party America CEO Marty Allen, philanthropist, and real estate mogul Marc Hagle and his wife, Sharon Hagle, founders of the nonprofit SpaceKids Global; explorer and University of North Carolina professor Jim Kitchen; and Dr. George Nield, president of Commercial Space Technologies and former manager of NASA’s Flight Integration Office.

BEZOS six passenger launch

Bezos accompanied the six passengers to the launch pad in Van Horn, where he traveled to orbit in the same capsule in July. “Why don’t you fix your small problem and light this candle,” he wrote on the launch tower’s bridge, referencing Alan Shepard’s famous whine from aboard Freedom 7 as the delays grew: “Why don’t you take care of your minor issue and light this candle?”

• Shepard Churchly volunteered to be the third passenger on Blue Origin’s third trip. She is the president of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation’s board of trustees.In a pre-flight Blue Origin video, she commented, “It gives me great pleasure to announce that an original Shepard will be flying aboard the New Shepard.”
• Bezos, who created Amazon six years before Blue Origin, was present at the July launch. In October, the second featured actor William Shatner, who played Captain James Kirk on the original “Star Trek” television series. In commemoration of the show’s original Mr. Spock, the late Leonard Nimoy’s daughter sent up a necklace with a “Vulcan Salute” pendant on this flight.

This time, the reusable, automated capsule was particularly crowded. There were six flying instead of four.

The company’s next voyage will be it’s fourth with human passengers and its 20th altogether.