WASHINGTON — “Good Morning America” co-host and NFL defensive great Michael Strahan will have to wait a little bit longer before soaring into the stratosphere.
Blue Origin, the rocket company owned by Jeff Bezos, announced Wednesday that due to "forecasted winds" for Thursday and Friday, the flight has now been pushed to Saturday, Dec. 11 at 8:45 a.m. CST, according to the company.
In a tweet, Blue Origin explained that it has "completed Flight Readiness Review and certified that the vehicle is ready for flight." So with the winds as a factor, Blue Origin said, "Weather is the only gating factor to get to launch."
The Blue Origin flight will be the third by the New Shepard craft this year to shuttle humans to space.
Blue Origin has not disclosed the ticket price for paying customers.
Joining Strahan on the short flight will be Laura Shepard Churchley, the oldest daughter of America’s first astronaut, Alan Shepard.
The 10-minute journey, five minutes less than Alan Shepard’s 1961 Mercury flight, will launch from West Texas carrying six people, two more than the previous two flights this year with humans aboard.
Similar to previous jaunts, Strahan's flight is likely to include about three minutes of weightlessness and a view of the curvature of the Earth. Passengers are subjected to nearly 6 G’s, or six times the force of Earth’s gravity, as the capsule descends. Bezos strapped in for the first passenger flight in July and actor William Shatner was onboard the second flight.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.