Blue Origin postpones William Shatner’s space flight by a day

Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company Blue Origin said Sunday it will postpone the flight that is slated to fly William Shatner to space due to forecasted high winds at its launch site. The flight of the company’s New Shepard spacecraft is now scheduled for 9:30AM ET on October 13th, a day later than originally planned. It’s targeted to lift off from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in Texas.

A statement on Blue Origin’s website said New Shepard NS-18 has met all mission requirements, and the astronauts have started their training. “Weather is the only gating factor for the launch window,” according to the statement, which is signed with the company motto “Gradatim Ferociter” (Latin for “step by step, ferociously”).

The company officially announced last week that Shatner, best known as Captain James T. Kirk from Star Trek, will join the crew of New Shepard for its second crewed flight. Shatner, 90, will be the oldest person to fly to space. New Shepard’s first crewed flight in July brought Bezos, his brother Mark, aviator Wally Funk, and teenager Oliver Daeman to space.

Shatner will be joined by Chris Boshuizen, a former NASA engineer and co-founder of satellite company Planet Labs, Glen de Vries, the co-founder of software company Medidata and vice chair of life sciences at a French software company, and Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations.