Michael Strahan: What time does he launch into space on Jeff Bezos’ rocket and how can you watch?

(via REUTERS)

Blue Origin is set to launch another set of private tourists into space – including one of its most famous passengers yet.

Michael Strahan, the former footballer turned TV presenter, will be part of a six-strong set of passengers who will blast off on a Blue Origin rocket this weekend.

Here’s all the important details on the trip, including when you should watch and how.

What time will the launch happen?

Saturday’s liftoff is expected at 8.45am local central time, or 1.45pm GMT.

The broadcast will probably start about 90 minutes before that. And the actual launch will be finished very shortly after that: they take just 11 minutes, since the trip is not that high and the passengers come straight back down again.

The launch could be delayed. It was expected to happen on Thursday, but weather got in the way, and could again.

How can I watch it?

Blue Origin has yet to confirm that the launch will be live streamed. But there is plenty of reason to think it will be – since it has in the past, and this launch is largely a publicity exercise for the company – and so it will almost certainly be available online.

If it is, then that live stream will be found through Blue Origin’s own website. In the past, it has offered live videos from a range of different angles, offering commentary and data on the spacecraft’s flight as well as footage of it happening.

Who is going?

Michael Strahan – an ex-footballer and now Good Morning America anchor – is by far the most famous of the passengers on board the mission. But he’s not the only one.

He will be joined by Laura Shepard Churchley. She is the eldest daughter of Nasa astronaut Alan Shepard, who flew on Nasa’s first ever human spaceflight mission as well as visiting the Moon, as well as giving his name to Blue Origin’s New Shepard.

The rest of the passengers are three investors who have paid for their tickets, and one of their children.

The spacecraft they will be riding on is an automated system, meaning that nobody will be piloting the ship and all of those flying are passengers.