16.03.2022
Blue Origin to fly 'SNL' star Pete Davidson to space next week
"Saturday Night Live" comic Pete Davidson has been confirmed as the next celebrity in line for a ride to the edge of space courtesy of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin astro-tourism company, with his suborbital flight set for next week.
The 28-year-old comedian and boyfriend of socialite and reality TV star Kim Kardashian was announced by Blue Origin on Monday as an "honorary guest" joining five paying customers for the company's fourth commercial flight since last summer.
Davidson, who had no immediate comment on his selection, was reported to have been in discussions with Blue Origin earlier this month.
His five fellow citizen astronauts-to-be are: angel investor Marty Allen, real estate veteran Marc Hagle and his wife Sharon Hagle, University of North Carolina professor Jim Kitchen and George Nield, founder-president of Commercial Space Technologies.
They are slated for liftoff on March 23 aboard Blue Origin's six-story-tall, fully autonomous spacecraft, dubbed New Shepard, from the company launch site outside the rural west Texas town of Van Horn.
The entire flight, from liftoff to touchdown, is expected to last a little over 10 minutes. The crew will experience a few minutes of weightlessness at the very apex of their suborbital joyride, some 350,000 feet (106 km) high, then will fall back to Earth for a parachute landing on the desert floor.
Davidson, a nine-year "SNL" cast member who co-wrote and starred in the semi-autobiographical film "The King of Staten Island," is the latest of several celebrities chosen as non-paying promotional Blue Origin passengers.
He follows in the footsteps of 90-year-old "Star Trek" actor William Shatner, whose October ride made him the oldest person ever to fly to space, and "Good Morning America" co-host Michael Strahan, a former NFL star. Strahan flew in December with 74-year-old Laura Shepard Churchley, eldest daughter of the late pioneering NASA astronaut Alan Shepard, for whom the Blue Origin rocketship is named.
Bezos himself tagged along on Blue Origin's inaugural crewed flight to space in July of last year with his brother Mark Bezos, trailblazing octogenarian female aviator Wally Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daeman, a Dutch high school graduate and beneficiary of a $28 million auction sweepstakes.
Quelle: Reuters
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Saturday Night Live Star Pete Davidson to Fly on Blue Origin’s 20th Mission Alongside Five Customers
Blue Origin today announced the crew flying on its upcoming NS-20 flight on March 23 will include Marty Allen, Pete Davidson, husband and wife duo Sharon and Marc Hagle, Jim Kitchen, and Dr. George Nield.
This mission is the fourth human flight for the New Shepard program and the 20th in its history.
Live launch coverage begins on BlueOrigin.com at T-60 minutes. Liftoff is currently targeted for 8:30 a.m. CDT / 13:30 UTC from Launch Site One in West Texas.
Each astronaut on board NS-20 will carry a postcard to space on behalf of Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, whose Postcards to Space program gives students access to space on Blue Origin’s rockets. The Club’s mission is to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM for the benefit of Earth.
Marty Allen
Marty Allen is a turnaround CEO and angel investor. During his tenure as CEO of Party America, he transformed the company from a broken California retail chain into a large nationwide retailer, leading the company through a bankruptcy restructuring and the acquisition of several competitors. He is also the former CEO of California Closet Company, leading the company to record sales and profitability. Marty also mentors CEOs through his board activities.
Pete Davidson
Pete Davidson joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2014. In 2020, he co-wrote and starred in the semi-autobiographical film The King of Staten Island, which also earned a nomination for The Comedy Movie Star of 2020 at the 46th People’s Choice Awards. Pete also appeared in the 2021 film The Suicide Squad directed by James Gunn.
Sharon Hagle
Sharon Hagle founded SpaceKids Global in 2015, a nonprofit whose mission is to inspire students to excel in STEAM+ education with a focus on empowering young girls. SpaceKids hosts several annual challenges designed to inspire kids to pursue careers in the space industry, including national essay competitions and a partnership with the Girl Scouts of Citrus County. SpaceKids also participates in Club for the Future’s Postcards to Space program. To date, Sharon has reached nearly 100,000 students globally.
Marc Hagle
Marc Hagle is president and CEO of Tricor International, a residential and commercial property development corporation. Under his direction, the company has developed and owned more than 17.4 million square feet of properties across the United States, including shopping centers, warehouses, medical facilities, recreational facilities, drug stores, and office projects. Marc and his wife, Sharon, are avid philanthropists for numerous arts, sciences, health, and education-related charities.
Jim Kitchen
Jim Kitchen is a teacher, entrepreneur, and world explorer who has visited all 193 U.N.-recognized countries. He’s been a space dreamer since watching NASA’s Apollo rocket launches in Florida as a child. As a college student in the 1980s, he promoted low Earth orbit space trips for a startup. Since 2010, Jim has served on the faculty of University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, teaching students to create world-changing for-profit and nonprofit ventures.
Dr. George Nield
Dr. George Nield is the president of Commercial Space Technologies, LLC, which he founded to encourage, facilitate, and promote commercial space activities. He previously served as associate administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation and was responsible for licensing and regulating all commercial launch activities. Earlier in his career, he held engineering roles at the Air Force Flight Test Center and the Orbital Sciences Corporation, and he was an assistant professor and research director at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Dr. Nield also served as the manager of the Flight Integration Office for NASA’s Space Shuttle Program.
Quelle: Blue Origin
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Update: 19.03.2022
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It’s a no-go: ‘SNL’ comedian Pete Davidson scrubs Blue Origin suborbital space ride
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture has called off plans to put “Saturday Night Live” cast member Pete Davidson on the next flight of its New Shepard suborbital spaceship. “Pete Davidson is no longer able to join the NS-20 crew on this mission,” Blue Origin said today in a tweet. The company said that liftoff from Launch Site One in West Texas has been delayed from March 24 to March 29 — and the mission’s five other crewmates are apparently on board with that. “We will announce the sixth crew member in the coming days,” Blue Origin said. Your move, Kanye West.
Quelle: GeekWire
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SNL star Pete Davidson will no longer fly to space after launch postponed
Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson is not going to be on Blue Origin's next space flight after the company pushed back the launch date by six days.
Santa Barbara Man Among 6-Person Crew for Blue Origin Rocket Flight
Marty Allen will travel on a suborbital launch from West Texas on March 29
Marty Allen, upper left, a part-time Santa Barbara resident, will join five people hitching a ride to the edge of space aboard Blue Origin’s 20th New Shepard private rocket flight from West Texas later this month. (Contributed photo)
A Santa Barbara resident will join five people hitching a ride to the edge of space aboard Blue Origin’s 20th New Shepard private rocket flight from West Texas later this month.
Marty Allen, who lives part-time in Santa Barbara, will travel on a suborbital launch along with husband-and-wife duo Sharon and Marc Hagle, Jim Kitchen, Dr. George Nield, and the final passenger announced Monday, Gary Lai.
This mission is the fourth human flight for the New Shepard program for Blue Origin, which along with Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos. This also is New Shepard's 20th flight, the private firm said.
Originally set for March 23, liftoff for the NS-20 crew has slipped to March 29, according to Blue Origin.
That delay meant Pete Davidson, Saturday Night Live comedian and Kim Kardashian’s current beau, had to bow out of the mission, opening the seat for Lai.
Allen, who divides his time between homes in Santa Barbara and Idaho, is a turnaround CEO and angel investor.
During his tenure leading Party America, he transformed the company from a struggling California retail chain into a large nationwide retailer, according to his biography. He guided the company through bankruptcy and the acquisition of several competitors.
He also worked for Josten’s, the country’s largest producer of yearbooks and class rings, along with a competitor, Hunter Publishing Company, before starting his own firm, Scholastic Video, which he sold to his partners in two years.
Allen, an alumnus of Nichols College in Massachusetts, is the former chief executive officer of California Closet Company, and mentors CEOs through his board activities.
A short trip to space for Allen shouldn’t come as a surprise since he has had a lifelong love for various modes of transportation.
According to his biography on his website, “Marty has always loved cars, boats and planes. As he said, all high maintenance hobbies.”
He took his first solo flight on his 16th birthday.
“Marty is now enjoying his time by catching up on the many activities he missed while doing non-stop turnarounds, acquisitions and mergers. He can be found sailing his 40′ sailboat along the California coast, driving his 1966 Austin Healey (which he completely restored) on the backroads of the Central Valley wine country, skiing or hiking in Sun Valley, where he splits his time between his two homes or in Santa Barbara, where he also enjoys hiking, biking along the mountain trails, traveling and dining al fresco in Santa Barbara.
Others on the flight are:
» Sharon Hagle, who founded SpaceKids Global in 2015, a nonprofit whose mission is to inspire students to excel in science, technology, engineering, arts and math education with a focus on empowering young girls.
» Marc Hagle, president and CEO of Tricor International, a residential and commercial property development corporation.
» Jim Kitchen, a teacher, entrepreneur, and world explorer. Since 2010, he has served on the faculty of University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.
» Dr. George Nield, the president of Commercial Space Technologies, LLC. He previously served as associate administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation, and was responsible for licensing and regulating all commercial launch activities.
» Gary Lai, best known as the architect of the New Shepard system, including leading the team responsible for the design and development of many of the key safety systems on the crew capsule. He joined Blue Origin in 2004, and was among the first 20 employees. He is currently senior director and chief architect of New Shepard.
In Blue Origin’s first human spaceflight, mission founder Bezos and others headed to the edge of space in July 2021, followed by Star Trek’s William Shatner and others in October 2021, and ABC anchor and former NFL player Michael Strahan and others in December 2021
These flights typically involve a short time at the edge of space, some 10 minutes while 65 miles high, before returning to Earth. In all, they spend approximately four minutes in weightlessness.
Blue Origin is booking for future flights, but remained mum about prices beyond saying the firm had close to $100 million in ticket sales.
Live launch coverage begins on BlueOrigin.com at T-60 minutes. Liftoff is currently targeted for 6:30 a.m. PDT (8:30 a.m. CDT) from Launch Site One in West Texas.
Quelle: Noozhawk
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Update: 25.03.2022
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UNC professor prepares for space travel ahead of March 29 Blue Origin launch
Photo by Helen McGinnis | The Daily Tar Heel
Jim Kitchen is not your typical college professor.
Currently a professor of the practice of strategy and entrepreneurship at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, Kitchen has a variety of academic and professional credentials. In addition to earning his undergraduate degree from UNC, he holds two master’s degrees and has built a successful career as an entrepreneur in the travel, real estate and technology fields.
But his list of accomplishments goes beyond the professional sphere.
With more than 63,000 Instagram followers, Kitchen documents his numerous travel adventures — visits to all 193 United Nations-recognized countries, to be exact.
After traveling around the world, Kitchen is setting his sights elsewhere: space. The trip, set to take place March 29 alongside five other passengers, will be an 11-minute flight on the Blue Origin’s New Shepard Spacecraft.
The venture is a lifelong dream for Kitchen. One of his earliest childhood memories is watching an Apollo launch with his mother, he said. He wanted to be just like the “Original Seven” — NASA’s first astronauts.
“I remember sitting there on her lap and watching that and just being wowed,” he said.
Astronomical ambitions
Ted Zoller, a friend of Kitchen who also works as the T.W. Lewis clinical professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the business school, said Kitchen challenges his students reach their fullest potential.
“Jim is doing it for the adventure,” Zoller said. "He’s doing it for the symbolic component of showing people that they can go and achieve their dreams."
Kitchen has been a mentor to many UNC students, both as a professor and as an angel investor for student-run ventures.
He said Kitchen pours his energy into the community, noting that he serves as a board member of the Public School Foundation that supports public education in Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
At UNC, his passion for philanthropy is incorporated directly into his curriculum through “Profit with a Purpose,” which tasks students with creating and selling a product to donate profits to charity.
Austin Helms, one of Kitchen's former students, said he knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur since childhood but briefly abandoned the goal in high school. Taking Kitchen's class reignited his interest into the field.
And as the current owner of Ease Plumbing in Charlotte, he said Kitchen's class is perfect for those looking to be pushed outside their comfort zone.
“In that class, you’re standing on the ledge," Helms said. "He pretty much says, ‘You’d better jump, or I’m going to shove you.'"
'My professor went to space'
Kitchen plans to write a postcard addressed to UNC students and the Chapel Hill community to tell them anything is possible. He also plans to carry stickers that read, “My professor went to space and all I got was this lousy sticker” and “This sticker flew in space.”
“Those stickers would be a really important reminder that their journey is possible," he said.
He said in a video on his Twitter account that he plans to bring a photograph of his family, a basketball signed by Michael Jordan and Dean Smith, and a flag emblazoned with the number “194” — adding onto the list of 193 countries he has traveled to as of now.
Zoller said Kitchen personifies the Tar Heel spirit.
“It’s about being connected to your community,” Zoller said. "It’s about bringing other people along for their development."
Taking flight
Upon Kitchen’s arrival for the launch in Texas, he and the crew will undergo training for about four days in preparation for departing into space, he said. Kitchen said the crew will familiarize themselves with the launch vehicle, go through safety protocols and learn about what to expect.
Following his New Shepard flight, Kitchen would love to go to the International Space Station or orbit Earth for a few days and learn about what it’s like to live in space.
While researching early aviation history, Kitchen stumbled upon a quote from Percival Elliott Fansler, who founded the first commercial airline in 1914.
“What was impossible yesterday is an accomplishment today, while tomorrow heralds the unbelievable,” Fansler said.
The message found its place at Kitchen’s Franklin Street office, where it lays plastered in red ink alongside a sea of inspirational quotes on the walls.
“The American dream still exists, and it’s in the form of Jim Kitchen,” Zoller said.
Quelle: The Daily Tar Heel
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Update: 28.03.2022
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#NS20 is now scheduled for launch on Thursday, March 31. #NewShepard Mission Operations has successfully completed Flight Readiness Review and weather is the only remaining factor to get to launch. Live webcast begins at 7:20 am CDT / 12:20 UTC.
Quelle: Blue Origin
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Update: 31.03.2022
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Blue Origin will conduct its fourth human spaceflight on Thursday, March 31. The astronaut manifest includes Marty Allen, Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle, Jim Kitchen, Gary Lai, and Dr. George Nield.
Live launch coverage begins T-60 minutes
Quelle: Blue Origin