Blue Origin New Shepard Flight Rescheduled: Is Pete Davidson Backing Out?

Blue Origin's spaceflight this March 23 is announced to be delayed for several days.

Blue Origin 20th Spaceflight

Blue Origin scheduled their 4th space flight on March 23 announcing that along their 6 crew members includes Pete Davidson, the Saturday Night Live star.

Last Monday, March 14, it was announced that Pete Davidson will board Blue Origin's New Shepard.

However, Blue Origin just announced that the launch of the 4th crewed spaceflight of New Shepard will be delayed to March 29, instead of being originally scheduled on March 23.

The company did not provide reasons for the delay of the spaceflight. In addition to the unexpected situation, Blue Origin announced that Pete Davidson will not board the Blue Origin.

Blue Origin stated, "Blue Origin's 20th flight of New Shepard has shifted to Tuesday, March 29. Pete Davidson is no longer able to join the NS-20 crew on this mission. We will announce the sixth crew member in the coming days."

The aerospace company did not name the replacement of the 6th crew member just yet. Blue Origin stated that they will announce the crew member in the next few days.

Blue Origin 4th Crewed Spaceflight

This Blue Origin space flight is called NS-20 whose crew members are Marty Allen, Jim Kitchen, Dr. George Nield, and Marc and Sharon Hagle.

Marty Allen is the former CEO of California Closet Company and the current CEO of Party America and also an angel investor.

Sharon Hagle is a founder of the nonprofit organization SpaceKids Global sounded in 2015. The foundation inspires young kids and empowers young girls to excel in the STEAM+ field of education.

On the other hand, Marc Hagle is the president and chief executive officer of Tricor International, a corporation that develops residential and commercial real estate.

Jim Kitchen is a teacher, entrepreneur, and world explorer who has traveled to every one of the 193 countries recognized by the United Nations.

Kitchen has always been a space enthusiast since he was a child when he was able to witness NASA's Apollo rocket launches in Florida. In the 1980s, while still a college student, he worked for a startup that promoted low-Earth orbit space travel.

Among the five confirmed crew of NS-20, the most experienced in space work would be Dr. George Nield. Formerly, he worked in engineering roles at the Air Force Flight Test Center and the Orbital Sciences Corporation, and he also taught at the United States Air Force Academy as an assistant professor and research director.

As reported by Space.com, Dr. Nield also served as the manager of the Flight Integration Office for NASA's Space Shuttle Program during his time at the agency.

The space flight on March 29 is the company's 4th human flight aboard the New Shepard program and marks the 20th Space mission for the program.

During the space flight, crew members of NS-20 will carry a postcard on low orbit space on behalf of the foundation of Blue Origin, Club for the Future.

According to iTechPost, the Club for the Future is a foundation whose mission is to inspire future generations to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and to assist in the invention of the future of life in space.

Postcards to Space, a space-focused curriculum, and access to space on Blue Origin's rockets are some of the ways the Club and its collaborators are accomplishing this.

As announced by the company, the launch of NS-20 will be covered live at the official website BlueOrigin.com at 8:30 a.m. CDT / 13:30 UTC from Launch Site One in West Texas.