Jeff Bezos-owned aerospace company Blue Origin has announced to delay Tuesday’s flight to send William Shatner, the man a generation has grown up seeing playing the grim-faced Captain James T Kirk in the sci-fi series ‘Star Trek’, by a day owing to bad weather.
The company’s New Shepard spacecraft flight is now scheduled for 9.30 a.m. (7 p.m. India time) on Wednesday from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in Texas.
“Due to forecasted winds on Tuesday, October 12, Blue Origin’s mission operations team has made the decision to delay the launch of NS-18 and is now targeting Wednesday, October 13,” read a statement on Blue Origin’s website.
The 90-year-old actor will be accompanied by Audrey Powers, Vice President of missions and flight operations. They will fill the last two seats on the company’s second crewed flight.
Shatner will also be joined by former NASA engineer Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries, a co-founder of software company Medidata.
Shatner, who will be the oldest man ever to travel to space, reprised the role of Captain Kirk in seven ‘Star Trek’ films spawned by the television series.
He is now the host and executive producer of ‘The UnXplained’ on The History Channel.
Shatner and his crewmates will fly just shy of three months after Blue Origin’s first crewed flight, which carried Bezos, and three other passengers on a 10-minute foray into space that reached 107 km in altitude, according to Space.com.
“I’ve heard about space for a long time now,” Shatner said in a statement issued by Blue Origin. “I’m taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle.”
