How to watch William Shatner and the NS-18 crew launch to space

Blue Origin is preparing to launch William Shatner and three more crew members to space Wednesday; here is how to watch NS-18.

Blue Origin’s NS-18 mission will carry three customers and a Blue Origin employee to space on their New Shepard rocket. The most notable crewmember is William Shatner, the actor who played Captain Kirk in the Star Trek TV show and movies. Along with him will be Chris Boshuizen, the co-founder of Planet Labs, Glen de Vries, an entrepreneur in the medical field, and Audrey Powers, the VP of New Shepard Mission and Flight Operations.

How to watch Blue Origin’s NS-18 launch

The current time for Wednesday’s launch is set for 9:30 a.m. EDT but this could be delayed later in the day if needed. Blue Origin will offer live coverage for everyone to watch on their YouTube channel. The stream will go live 90 minutes before launch, so 8 a.m. EDT, so a very early morning (5 a.m. PT) for those on the west coast. No worries if you don’t want to watch the start of the coverage, you can catch up on what is discussed on our live blog.

The stream will cover the crew’s preparations, travel to the pad, and then their 10-minute flight to space and back. It’s unknown if there will be a post-flight press conference as this flight does not have as large a media presence as Jeff Bezos’. Last launch, the pinning ceremony for the crewmembers happened before the post-flight press conference, so we expect to see this pinning ceremony once again.

How to watch in person

There is a public highway several miles away from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One, but it has been closed at the company’s request in the past. While it is far and the New Shepard rocket is small, some people have been able to get good views of previous launches.

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