AP Photo/Steven Senne; Blue Origin; Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters
- Actor William Shatner was scheduled to visit space on a Blue Origin aircraft on Tuesday.
- Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company, announced the launch was delayed because of weather.
- It’s now expected to launch on Wednesday.
“Star Trek” actor William Shatner was supposed to head to space on a Blue Origin aircraft on Tuesday, but the trip was delayed because of weather.
The delay was announced by the spaceflight company, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The company said there were winds forecasted near its Launch Site One in West Texas.
“As part of today’s Flight Readiness Review, the mission operations team confirmed the vehicle has met all mission requirements and astronauts began their training today. Weather is the only gating factor for the launch window,” the company said in their announcement.
Shatner’s flight on the company’s New Shepard launch system is now scheduled for Wednesday. He will be Blue Origin’s first celebrity passenger.
This is set to be the company’s second crewed flight. In July, Blue Origin launched its first passenger spaceflight sending Bezos, his brother Mark, 18-year-old Dutch high school graduate Oliver Daemen, and Wally Funk, an 82-year-old aviator, 62 miles above sea level, where experts say space begins.
Shatner, 90, is set to be the oldest person to reach the boundary of space.
“I’m thrilled and anxious and a little nervous and a little frightened about this whole new adventure,” Shatner previously told the “Today” show.
Insider’s Morgan McFall-Johnsen reported that Blue Origin employees wrote an open letter expressing concern over the safety of the New Shepard launch system and said they wouldn’t fly on it themselves.
Shatner and Blue Origin did not respond to Insider’s email request for comment at the time of publication.
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