SpaceX will offer a first "entirely civilian" mission in space this year. The ship will be piloted by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. The latter will also donate the three other available seats, and will donate several million dollars to the fight against cancer.
Billionaire Jared Isaacman – founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments – will travel this year with SpaceX, which last year became the first private company to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. The 37-year-old entrepreneur, who is also an accomplished pilot, will command this four-person mission dubbed "Inspiration4" aboard a Crew Dragon capsule. Take-off is scheduled for the end of the year.
Note that there will be no professional astronauts on board. Isaacman will donate the remaining three seats available at St. Jude Hospital in Memphis (USA). This hospital, considered a leading institution in the fight against cancer and other diseases, treat children free of charge.
The hospital has already assigned one of the available seats to one of its employees. A second seat will be awarded to a member of the public via a fundraising raffle that Isaacman says could raise at least $200 million for the hospital. Note that you do not necessarily have to give money to participate in this raffle.
In addition, the billionaire himself pledged to donate 100 million dollars of his personal fortune to the structure. To learn more, visit the Inspiration4 website.
This site also has information for anyone interested in vying for the last seat. This will be awarded to " a deserving entrepreneur using the new e-commerce platform Shift4Shop " , according to the press release. This person will be chosen through a contest that will run until February 28.
“ Inspiration4 is the realization of a lifelong dream and a step towards a future in which anyone can venture and explore the stars ” , Isaacman said. " I appreciate the enormous responsibility that comes with commanding this mission, and I want to use this historic moment to inspire humanity while helping to fight childhood cancer here on Earth " .
For this mission, SpaceX will use its "Resilience" capsule, currently docked to the ISS as part of the Crew-1 mission. On the other hand, there will be no question of joining the station. The spacecraft will lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will spend approximatelytwo to four days circling the Earth, then descend to land at sea.
“ This will be the very first privately crewed orbital mission in history ” , Elon Musk said in a conference call on Monday, adding that Inspiration4 revenue will also help SpaceX develop Starship, its new interplanetary spacecraft currently in the testing phase.
Finally, let's remember that SpaceX has also reached an agreement with Axiom Space to send four people to the ISS aboard a Crew Dragon capsule starting this year. The crew will stay on board the station for about eight days before returning to land at sea off Cape Canaveral (Florida).
