The first all-civilian mission to space was announced this week from SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, CA. The journey is set for the fourth quarter of this year and will be commanded by Jared Isaacman, the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments and an accomplished pilot.
The trip is named Inspiration4 in recognition of the four-person crew’s mission to inspire support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The trip will represent a new era for human spaceflight and exploration. The three seats alongside Isaacman will be donated to crew members that represent the mission pillars of leadership, hope, generosity, and prosperity.
“Inspiration4 is the realization of a lifelong dream and a step towards a future in which anyone can venture out and explore the stars,” said Isaacman. “I appreciate the tremendous responsibility that comes with commanding this mission and I want to use this historic moment to inspire humanity while helping to tackle childhood cancer here on Earth.”
The Inspiration4 crew will have commercial astronaut training by SpaceX on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft. In addition, there will be emergency preparedness training, spacesuit, and spacecraft ingress and egress exercises. They will also simulate missions.
Isaacman will also commit $100 million to St. Jude and is asking for everyone to join him in raising upwards of $200 million or more in support of st. Jude’s multi-billion dollar expansion aimed to accelerate research advancements and save more children worldwide.
During the Super Bowl, an ad for Inspiration4 will air highlighting the mission, reaching an audience of 100 million people. You can catch a glimpse of the commercial here.
