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Weather delays Capt. Kirk’s flight: William Shatner will blast off Wednesday

By Natalie Dreier, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
By Natalie Dreier, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

William Shatner has to wait for his chance to finally get to space. The weather has caused a flight delay for the latest Blue Origin launch.

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The launch was scheduled for Tuesday, but now will be held on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. CT, ABC News reported.

High winds, nearly as high as 75 mph, were expected at the west Texas launch site, the company said Sunday, NBC News reported.

“As part of today’s Flight Readiness Review, the mission operations team confirmed the vehicle has met all mission requirements and astronauts began their training today,” officials said in a statement. “Weather is the only gating factor for the launch window.”

Shatner will be 90 when he eventually gets to fly on Blue Origin’s New Shepard 4 during the mission to the edge of space, making him the oldest person to travel into space.

But he will only be in space for a few minutes. The entire flight will last about 11 minutes and the crew will have about four minutes of weightlessness, ABC News reported.

He will be joined by Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations; Glen de Vries, co-founder of Medidata Solutions, a medical research company; and Chris Boshuizen, a tech entrepreneur.

Shatner is a guest on the flight, NPR reported. De Vries and Boshuizen paid, NBC News reported.

Shatner said of his trip when his mission was announced last week: “I’m going to see the vastness of space and the extraordinary miracle of our Earth and how fragile it is compared to the forces at work in the universe – that’s really what I’m looking for,” NBC News reported.

“I’m deeply disappointed because I was building up the enthusiastic response, now we have to wait another day,” Shatner said according to ABC News. “[But] it’s really worth it. What’s a day with this extraordinary experience that we’re about to have.”

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Photos: William Shatner through the years Here are some memorable moments from actor William Shatner's life in the public eye. (CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)

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