CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — A UNC professor gets to fulfill his childhood wish of going into space next week.

Jim Kitchen is part of a six-person mission that will include Saturday Night Live comedian Pete Davidson. Blue Origin, which is the rocket company founded by Amazon creator and billionaire Jeff Bezos, organized the space flight.

Growing up, Kitchen spent his summers going from Florida to Washington state.

“My parents were public school teachers,” Kitchen said. “Every summer, June, July and August, they would take the kids and put us in the back of the wood-paneled station wagon and off we’d go from South Florida to Washington state. And every summer we did it.”

Kitchen inherited his wanderlust from his parents. Those trips inspired him to learn so much about the U.S. and the world. He went to college and started a marketing and travel business, which took him to all 193 U.N.-recognized countries.

Having roamed and seen the world, he’s ready for his next big adventure.

“Yes, I went to 193 countries,” Kitchen said. “But space is 194.”

Kitchen may carry on one small bag provided by Blue Origin, which can be only three pounds. Some items he’s planning to bring include a flag that says “194,” his U.S. passports, stickers that say, “This Sticker Flew in Space,” and a Ukrainian flag.

John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, is one of Kitchen’s space heroes. Kitchen said he wanted to follow in his footsteps.

“My earliest childhood memories was sitting in my mom’s lap,” Kitchen said. “And watching an Apollo launch that took off from the coast of Florida, and it was an emotional experience. I remember the ground shaking and the sky lighting up and thinking I want to be an astronaut.”

As far as cost, Kitchen said he’s not able to disclose how much he paid for the space flight. 

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“Not a professional astronaut, just a normal guy, a teacher like me gets to go to space,” Kitchen said. “As an entrepreneurship teacher, that, to me, is remarkable.”

The Blue Origin launch vehicle will travel 2,600 miles an hour into space.

“We stay up in space for roughly three to four minutes. Zero gravity,” Kitchen said. “I’ll be looking out these windows at the curvature of the earth and the blackness of the universe. And I think I’ll probably catch a Skittle or two from Pete Davidson.”

Kitchen will head to Texas Saturday to start his official training. He and other crew members will spend four days learning about the launch vehicle, the capsule, what sounds to expect and safety protocols. They will also put together a zero gravity plan, which will help the team figure out who does what once they’re up in space.

Kitchen said he’s overwhelmed by the amount of support he’s been receiving.

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“It’s been sheer insanity since the news broke that I’m going into space with Pete Davidson,” Kitchen said. “The phone’s been ringing off the hook. My kids, their friends, my nephews, people I haven’t heard from in 20 years. It’s all been fun. Particularly my students. They think it’s really cool that their professor is going to space with Pete Davidson.”

Kitchen has been training on his own. He’s a long-distance runner, so he’s been staying in shape, doing more push-ups and even boxing. He’s also done zero gravity training and some centrifuge training, which NASA astronauts do.

“I’ve done two zero gravity flights,” Kitchen said. “This was in preparation, not necessarily for this flight, but for wanting to go into space. When you do a zero gravity flight, they put you into a 737, and they take you up to 35,000 feet and then you go straight down. There’s no seats, no luggage bins. It’s just you in a big tube and you’re essentially just free falling.”