'SNL' Star Pete Davidson Heads to Space on March 23
Saturday Night Live's Pete Davidson is heading to space next week. The comedian and actor snagged a seat among five other civilians on Blue Origin's NS-20 mission, scheduled for liftoff on March 23.
The latest celebrity to enroll in Jeff Bezos' space tourism project, 28-year-old Davidson joins the ranks of TV personality and former NFL player Michael Strahan, Star Trek actor William Shatner, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and, of course, Blue Origin's own Bezos.
Davidson is one of six crew members set to embark on New Shepard's fourth human flight next week, alongside investor Marty Allen, SpaceKids Global founder Sharon Hagle, her real estate exec husband Marc Hagle, and entrepreneur Jim Kitchen.
Also on board will be president of Commercial Space Technologies, George Nield, who previously served as associate administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation and manager of the Flight Integration Office for NASA's Space Shuttle Program.
Each astronaut will carry a postcard designed through the aerospace organization's Club for the Future—a foundation aimed at inspiring new generations of STEM students. Upon landing back on Earth, the postcards will be returned to their creators with a "Flown to Space" stamp.
Davidson, who's only experience as a rocketman comes from a 2021 SNL sketch featuring SpaceX head Elon Musk, will spend less than 15 minutes among the cosmos, experiencing brief weightlessness before heading back to Earth for a parachute-assisted landing in the Texas desert, according to CNET.
Live coverage of the mission begins at 7:30 a.m. CDT (8:30 a.m. EST); liftoff is currently targeted for 8:30 a.m. CDT (9:30 a.m. EST) from Launch Site One in West Texas.
Sign up for W
Read more on pcmag.com
