{"id":17407,"date":"2022-03-22T00:31:28","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T16:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/blue-origin-gives-snl-comedian-pete-davidsons-suborbital-seat-to-the-spaceships-chief-architect\/"},"modified":"2022-03-22T00:31:28","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T16:31:28","slug":"blue-origin-gives-snl-comedian-pete-davidsons-suborbital-seat-to-the-spaceships-chief-architect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/blue-origin-gives-snl-comedian-pete-davidsons-suborbital-seat-to-the-spaceships-chief-architect\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin gives \u2018SNL\u2019 comedian Pete Davidson\u2019s suborbital seat to the spaceship\u2019s chief architect"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"452\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/220321-lai2-630x452.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-684440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/220321-lai2-630x452.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/220321-lai2-768x551.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/220321-lai2.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption>Gary Lai is the chief architect of Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard suborbital launch system. (Blue Origin Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The soon-to-be spaceflier who\u2019ll replace \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d comedian Pete Davidson on the crew for next week\u2019s launch of Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard suborbital spaceship already knows what it\u2019s like to get ready for liftoff.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because he\u2019s Gary Lai, Blue Origin\u2019s chief architect for the New Shepard launch system. Lai served as an almost-astronaut during last April\u2019s rehearsal for crewed flight at the company\u2019s Launch Site One in West Texas. That was a practice run during which Lai and a crewmate strapped into their seats in the crew capsule, but then climbed out and left the launch pad just before liftoff.<\/p>\n<p>Just three months later, Blue Origin went ahead with its first-ever crewed space mission, with billionaire founder Jeff Bezos and three others on board. Two more trips followed, and now it\u2019s Lai\u2019s turn for real.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am deeply humbled, grateful and excited by the invitation to fly on New Shepard on the NS-20 mission,\u201d Lai wrote in a posting on LinkedIn. (NS-20 refers to the fact that this will be the 20th mission for the New Shepard reusable launch system. Sixteen of those missions were uncrewed.) <\/p>\n<p>Lai joined Blue Origin in 2004 and was among the Kent, Wash.-based company\u2019s first 20 employees. He currently serves as senior director and chief architect of the New Shepard program, but he\u2019s played roles in developing all of Blue Origin\u2019s product lines \u2014 including its rocket engines, the New Glenn orbital-class rocket and the Blue Moon lunar landing system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile New Shepard may be designed for suborbital space tourism and research, at Blue Origin&nbsp;we made it for another purpose \u2014 to learn how to make human spaceflight routine, safe and low-cost, so we can use the effectively limitless resources of space for the benefit Earth,\u201d Lai explained on LinkedIn.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Safety, Blue Origin\u2019s Top Mission\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZKqpt4g5_yY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>He said suborbital space vehicles provide a lower-cost route to gain experience with the techniques and technologies required for orbital human spaceflight. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of the experience we are gaining on New Shepard, we are confident the first flight of the New Glenn orbital vehicle will be 100% successful,\u201d Lai said.<\/p>\n<p>Lai is getting his chance because Blue Origin shifted the launch date from March 23 to March 29, and as a result, Davidson was no longer able to join the crew. Although Blue Origin hasn\u2019t provided specifics about the factors behind the cancellation, the 28-year-old actor is in the midst of filming a horror movie in New Jersey called \u201cThe Home\u201d \u2014 and it\u2019s likely that the film production schedule couldn\u2019t accommodate the revised launch schedule.<\/p>\n<p>Five other crew members will join Lai on the trip, following through on their previously announced reservations:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Sharon and Marc Hagle<\/strong>, who are in line to become the first married couple to go into space together since 1992. Marc is the president and CEO of Tricor International, while Sharon is the founder of SpaceKids Global.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Marty Allen<\/strong>, an angel investor and the former CEO of Party America and California Closet Company.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Jim Kitchen<\/strong>, a teacher, entrepreneur and explorer who has served on the faculty of the University of North Carolina\u2019s Kenan-Flagler Business School since 2010.<\/li>\n<li><strong>George Nield<\/strong>, a former associate administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration\u2019s Office of Commercial Space Transportation who is now the president of Commercial Space Technologies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While Lai is flying as a Blue Origin employee, the five others are paying undisclosed fares. Liftoff is currently set for 8:30 a.m. CT (6:30 a.m. PT) March 29, but that schedule can shift depending on weather or technical factors. Blue Origin plans to live-stream coverage of the launch via its website, starting at T-minus-60 minutes in the countdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gary Lai is the chief architect of Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard suborbital launch system. (Blue Origin Photo) The soon-to-be spaceflier who\u2019ll replace \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d comedian Pete Davidson on the crew for next week\u2019s launch of Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard suborbital spaceship already knows what it\u2019s like to get ready for liftoff. That\u2019s because he\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[509,1250,493,4402],"class_list":["post-17407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blue-origin","tag-new-shepard","tag-space-tourism","tag-suborbital-spaceflight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17407"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17407\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}