Pete Davidson Becomes Third Celebrity On Suborbital Flight With Blue Origin

Pete Davidson is on the list of flights into space scheduled for later this month. (photo: twitter @IGIHE)

JAKARTA - Blue Origin has again included the name of a celebrity, Pete Davidson, in the list of flights to space scheduled for later this month.

Davidson's name has recently become popular, not only as a star on the Saturday Night Live TV program. He has also recently been in a relationship with Kim Kardashian.

In the short suborbital flight, Davidson will fly with five paying customers on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket as high as 60 miles.

They include Marty Allen, an investor and former CEO of party supply store Jim Kitchen, entrepreneur and business professor George Nield. There is also a former associate administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration's Office for Commercial Space Transport Marc Hagle.

Also joining are real estate developer Orlando and his wife, Sharon Hagle, who founded a non-profit organization focused on space.

Cited from CNN International, Tuesday, March 15, the launch is scheduled for March 23 at 8:30 a.m. CT, launching vertically from the launch pad in Texas. Before departing, they will spend several days training at Blue Origin's facility in West Texas.

Upon liftoff, the rocket will penetrate the speed of sound, and near the top of its flight path, will detach from the capsule. As the rocket boosters return to Earth for an upright landing, the manned capsule will continue to soar higher into the atmosphere to more than 60 miles above the surface where the darkness of space is visible and the capsule windows will offer expansive views of the Earth.

Once the flight reaches its peak, passengers will experience several minutes of weightlessness. When gravity begins to pull the capsule back to the ground, passengers will again experience a strong force before the parachute is deployed to slow the vehicle. Then it would land at less than 20 miles per hour in the Texas desert.

Because its flight is suborbital, meaning it doesn't generate enough speed or take the right trajectory to avoid being dragged back by Earth's gravity. The entire flight will only last about 10 minutes.

Davidson will be the third celebrity on a Blue Origin flight. William Shatner was previously on the flight in October last year. Former NFL and Good Morning America host Michael Strahan also flew on Blue Origin's second passenger flight in December, joining astronaut Alan Shepard's daughter on the journey.

Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, flew the company's first passenger flight last July. He flies with space community hero Wally Funk, his brother Mark Bezos and paying customers.

Since then, Blue Origin has made headlines for flying other famous names on its next two flights.

Blue Origin's goal is to make suborbital spaceflight a cultural staple, providing a fun 10-minute supersonic ride to welcome guests who have so far been mostly celebrities and whoever can afford it.