William Shatner's Blue Origin launch delayed to Wednesday due to weather

News
By Mike Wall
published

The wind forecast isn't favorable for a Tuesday liftoff.

A collage shows Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, the company's suborbital New Shepard launch system and actor William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk in "Star Trek."
A collage shows Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, the company's suborbital New Shepard launch system and actor William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk in "Star Trek." (Image credit: Blue Origin/Paramount Pictures)

William Shatner will have to wait another day to reach the final frontier.

Blue Origin has pushed the next launch of its New Shepard vehicle, which will carry Shatner and three other people to suborbital space, from Tuesday (Oct. 12) to Wednesday (Oct. 13) due to weather concerns.

The mission, known as NS-18, will launch from Blue Origin's West Texas site, near the town of Van Horn. Winds in the area are expected to be unfavorable on Tuesday, prompting the 24-hour push, Blue Origin representatives said via Twitter on Sunday (Oct. 10).

Related: William Shatner's Blue Origin launch on New Shepard: Live updates

The launch is now scheduled for 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) on Wednesday. You can watch it here at Space.com, courtesy of Blue Origin, or directly via the company. Coverage will begin 90 minutes before liftoff.

NS-18 will be the second crewed launch of New Shepard and the vehicle's 18th flight overall (hence the name). The first crewed mission lifted off on July 20, sending Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk and Dutch student Oliver Daemen on a brief jaunt to suborbital space.

On that flight, the 18-year-old Daemen and the 82-year-old Funk became the youngest and oldest people ever to reach space, respectively. Shatner, who is 90, will wrest the eldest crown from Funk when NS-18 soars into the final frontier. 

Related stories:

—William Shatner's space launch with Blue Origin has taken Twitter by storm
—William Shatner's age will make him the oldest person to fly in space with Blue Origin launch
—William Shatner eager to see 'vastness of space' when he launches with Blue Origin

Joining the "Star Trek" actor on the coming mission are Audrey Powers, Blue Origin's vice president of mission and flight operations; Chris Boshuizen, co-founder of the Earth-observation company Planet; and Glen de Vries, vice chair for life sciences and healthcare at the French software company Dassault Systèmes.

Blue Origin's main competitor in the suborbital space tourism industry, Virgin Galactic, is selling seats aboard its VSS Unity space plane for $450,000 apiece. Blue Origin has not disclosed how much a ticket to ride New Shepard costs. 

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. 

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.