His parents Francisca and John, who have watched him foster a love for all things science throughout his life, could not be prouder.

"We think it's just so wonderful for him that he's fulfilling his dream," Mrs Boshuizen said.

"[He's] maybe not doing exactly what he had in mind as a [child], but definitely that one step closer to what he envisaged."

Chris, a physicist and former NASA engineer, will become the third Australian to fly into space when he lifts off this week, aboard Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin New Shepard rocket.

He will be joined by 90-year-old Star Trek actor William Shatner, known for his role as Captain James T. Kirk, as well Audrey Powers and Glen de Vries.

Mrs Boshuizen said her son's love of space first began when he was around five or six year's old.

He initially wanted to be a mechanic, but this dream soon transformed into wanting to be an astronaut. Everything then became space oriented at the Boshuizen household, down to what type of lego's he wanted to play with.

"Anything [about] space that was on TV he would watch," Mrs Boshuizen said.

The family moved to Tumbarumba when Chris was four, and he lived there until he went to university. The rest of the family moved a few year's later.

"We had a really good science and maths teacher at Tumbarumba High," Mrs Boshuizen said.

"They were very supportive of him."

She said the teachers would give Chris and his two space-loving friends projects to do in class when they had finished all their other work early.

He'd planned to apply for the Australian airforce as a pathway in going to space, however partial colourblindness prevented this from happening.

Chris instead went on to study at the University of Sydney, achieving a Doctorate of Physics, before moving to the US to begin work for NASA.

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"Once he went to America and was working for NASA we thought that's it, he's doing what he loves," Mrs Boshuizen said.

"I'm just hoping that all the people watching, kids especially, will know that your dreams are possible and do come true - you've just gotta go for it."

Weather permitting, the NS-18 is targeted for launch on Wednesday night at 11.30pm (Australian time) and will be broadcast live on the Blue Origin YouTube channel.

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