Among the many surprising titles that Pete Davidson has held in the past year – from Kim Kardashian's boyfriend to chicken cutlet connoisseur – you can add space traveler.
The "Saturday Night Live" star is embarking on a journey to outer space next week thanks to Jeff Bezos and the New Shepard space program. He'll join the fourth Blue Origin spaceflight with human passengers on March 23.
Blue Origin, the privately funded aerospace manufacturer and flight company founded by Bezos, has so far flown 14 passengers to space since its first human flight in July 2021, Axios reported. The inaugural flight included Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, aviation pioneer Wally Funk and Dutch teenager Oliver Daemen, who was 18 years old at the time.
Other notable passengers include "Star Trek" star William Shatner, who became the oldest person to fly to space at 90, and ex-NFL star/television personality Michael Strahan, who took part in last December's flight.
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According to Blue Origin, Davidson will be travelling with five additional crew members on the rocket: Party America CEO Marty Allen; president and CEO of a Florida-based real estate firm Marc Hagle and his wife, Sharon Hagle, founder of the nonprofit group SpaceKids Global; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor Jim Kitchen; and the president of Commercial Space Technologies, Dr. George Nield.
If you notice that one of these things is not like the other, you're right. Davidson is flying as an "honorary guest," compared to the other paying customers.
The flight is scheduled for take off at 8:30 a.m. CDT from Van Horn, Texas. Passengers will fly approximately 62 miles above Earth's surface, where they will experience a brief moment of complete weightlessness, before returning back home. Each passenger will also carry a postcard submitted to the Blue Origin's Club for the Future, a nonprofit that strives to encourage future generations to pursue careers in STEM, per NBC's TODAY.
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Davidson's space voyage announcement arrives just a few days after his relationship with Kim Kardashian became Instagram official amid his ongoing feud with Kardashian's ex-husband, Kanye "Ye" West. Earlier this month, Ye uploaded a grim music video where he's seen kidnapping, decapitating and burying alive a claymation versioln of Davidson. On Sunday afternoon, Davidson's friend shared the pair's lengthy text conversations on social media. The exchange offers an intimate look at their private conversations and even includes a photo of Davidson making a vulgar gesture on Kardashian's bed.
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