Pete Davidson is headed to space with Jeff Bezos this month
He’s been buried alive in songs, given a not-so-subtle nickname, driven off Instagram and forced to employ bodyguards for his personal protection. Today, American comedian and actor Pete “Skete” Davidson lives rent-free in Kanye “Ye” West’s head with punctuation-less rants, leaked screenshots and meme wars. Well, guess what Ye? Your one-sided beef will soon have to follow Davidson into the beyond—as the actor is now headed to space aboard a Blue Origin flight.
First reported by Page Six, the Saturday Night Live (SNL) star was spotted at Jeff Bezos’ Los Angeles compound in January, where he and Kim Kardashian dined with the space billionaire and his long-time girlfriend Lauren Sanchez. As of today, Davidson is confirmed to be “an honorary guest” aboard Blue Origin’s 60-foot rocket, New Shepard, alongside five other paying customers.
“Pete is excited,” a source told Page Six when the news first surfaced as a rumour. “They haven’t signed a contract yet, but it looks like it’s going to happen. The details are being finalised. He got on really well with Jeff when they met.” Although the date was yet to be confirmed, the source speculated the journey to be scheduled for later this year. Well, turns out they were right. Davidson’s liftoff is currently targeted for 8:30 am Central Time (CT) on 23 March 2022 outside Van Horn, Texas.
The other five passengers joining Davidson will be Marty Allen, angel investor and former CEO of Party America, as well as husband and wife duo Marc and Sharon Hagle. While Marc is the CEO of Tricor International, Sharon herself has founded a non-profit called SpaceKids Global which works with Blue Origin’s Club for the Future. Entrepreneur Jim Kitchen is also set to be onboard the spaceflight, along with George Nield, the former associate administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Commercial Space Transportation office.
In October 2021, 90-year-old Star Trek actor William Shatner headed off to space aboard Bezos’ New Shepard capsule—being the oldest person in history to do so. Good Morning America’s co-host and former NFL star Michael Strahan followed Shatner two months later. To date, Davidson is not the only celebrity packing his bags for space either. Back in 2012, Ashton Kutcher signed up for a seat aboard a Virgin Galactic flight, making him Richard Branson’s 500th customer.
However, in July 2021, Kutcher revealed that he was convinced to sell the ticket by his wife Mila Kunis. “When I got married and had kids, my wife basically encouraged that it was not a smart family decision to be heading into space when we have young children, so I ended up selling my ticket back to Virgin Galactic,” Kutcher told Cheddar News in this regard. Angelina Jolie, Leonardo Dicaprio and James Cameron have also reportedly purchased tickets in the past.
Be it to catch a break from Ye’s petty squabble and claymation music videos or not, Davidson has long been associated with space travel, if you really think about it. Back in May 2021, the actor returned to SNL as a Mars colonist alongside Space X’s Elon Musk. In the skit, Davidson played ‘Chad’ and sacrificed his life to restore oxygen back at the base. Although his character took off his helmet while being thanked for his heroism, it’s still saying something.
