UPDATE: High winds forecasted on Tuesday, March 29, have led Blue Origin to delay its NS-20 launch for a second time. Now, the rocket and civilian passengers are expected to take off on Thursday, March 31.

UNC professor and Chapel Hill entrepreneur Jim Kitchen is still set to take off on the latest Blue Origin flight. But it will not be when initially planned.

Blue Origin, a commercial space flight company that takes civilian passengers to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere, announced recently the fourth New Shepard rocket launch would be delayed from March 23 to Tuesday, March 29. No explanation was given in the announcement — but Texas, where the launch is planned, was battered this week by high winds and inclement weather.

The delay led to a change in crew as well. Kitchen is one of six civilian passengers set to be part of the crew, which included investor Marty Allen, ‘Saturday Night Live’ star Pete Davidson, philanthropists Sharon and Marc Hagle, and President of Commercial Space Technologies Dr. George Nield. Blue Origin announced, however, the delay led to Davidson dropping out of the flight.

On Monday, the space flight company announced the comedian’s replacement: long-time Blue Origin employee and Chief Architect Gary Lai.

Lai is responsible for the design and development of safety systems for Blue Origin’s Crew Capsules. He joined the company in 2004 and was one of its first 20 employees, according to a release.

Blue Origin is owned by former Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos. If the NS-20 launch is set to take place at the same time as its planned March 23, the rocket will take off from West Texas around 9:30 a.m. EDT on March 29.

 

Photo via Blue Origin.

Editor’s Note: Kitchen is a co-owner of the Chapel Hill Media Group, which consists of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.

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