KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — The SpaceX Crew-1 mission will be pilot Victor Glover’s first time in space and he is beyond thrilled.

“I’m over the moon, figuratively, but maybe one day literally,” he said.

Glover  — along with Shannon Walker, Michael Hopkins, and Soichi Noguchi from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency — will kick off the first operational flight on SpaceX's Crew Dragon on Saturday from the Kennedy Space Center.

The California native has come a long way. From a wrestler in college and a Navy test pilot to a congressional staff member working for the late Sen. John McCain, Glover has an extensive resume.

Now he's ready to add astronaut to that list, joining three veterans on a mission to the International Space Station.

“Listening to Shannon and Soichi and Mike talk about their Souyz experience, their space shuttle experience, and their lives on the International Space Station, and how they managed their families and communication and keeping their things together, all of that has been so valuable to me and to top it all off, we have a great time,” Glover told Spectrum News.

Looking at Glover's Twitter feed, you can tell he does have a good time: From flying simulators and practicing spacewalks, to spending time with his wife and four daughters.

“I think now with the pandemic, and with us having to be a little more isolated than normal, I think (my daughters are) also ready for dad to go ahead, get out to low-Earth-orbit so maybe they can go back to school and have a little bit more of a social life,” Glover said.

Glover will use his experience flying, including during Operation Iraqi Freedom, to pilot the SpaceX Crew Dragon on its mission to the International Space Station.

“Every time I do something in space it will be the first time, and I really want to enjoy and appreciate that,” he said. “Going to sleep for the first time, eating a meal or working out, all those firsts. So I’m going to enjoy the entire experience.”

Glover was selected to be an astronaut in 2013.