Blue Origin has revealed that one of its key employees will replace Pete Davidson on an upcoming flight to space, days after the “Saturday Night Live” comedian dropped out of the mission under unclear circumstances.
Gary Lai, the chief architect of Blue Origin’s “New Shepard” shuttle program, will be the sixth crew member on the March 29 mission – the 20th in the firm’s history. Lai joined Blue Origin in 2004 and was one of the company’s first employees.
“Gary is best known as the architect of the New Shepard system, including leading the team responsible for the design and development of many of the key safety systems on the Crew Capsule,” Blue Origin said in a release announcing the change.
Lai will join five other crew members who were previously announced — investor Marty Allen; SpaceKids Global founder Sharon Hagle; her husband and Tricor International CEO Mark Hagle; entrepreneur Jim Kitchen and Commercial Space Technologies President George Nield.
Blue Origin added that Lai is an integral part of its operations, with involvement “in product development, strategic planning, and business development for all Blue Origin product lines, including the New Glenn orbital launch vehicle, rocket engine programs, and Blue Moon.”
Blue Origin and Davidson have yet to publicly explain why he is no longer participating in the mission. Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ firm announced the launch was delayed by six days at the same time it revealed the comedian would no longer participate.
While multiples sources told Page Six that Davidson had trained for the space flight, one insider questioned a possible explanation – that the comedian left the mission due to a conflict that arose with his filming schedule after the launch date changed.
“As with previous flights, there are always issues with weather conditions. Before Michael Strahan’s flight, they shifted launch by about a week due to the wind. So there is always this [possibility], and Pete would have known that,” the insider told Page Six. “I know the party line is that it’s a filming clash, but I’m not too sure.”
Davidson is also in the midst of a high-profile feud with his girlfriend Kim Kardashian’s ex, Kanye West, though it’s unclear if that factored into the decision. Some fans have called for West to replace Davidson on the mission.