Billionaire tech entrepreneur and pilot Jared Isaacman will command the world's first all-civilian mission to space aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, targeted to launch at the end of the year
The world's first private mission to space is set to usher in a new era of commercial space exploration, and the man leading the charge is tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. The 37-year-old billionaire is the founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments, a leader in secure payment processing solutions.
As an accomplished pilot, Isaacman will be commanding the all-civilian spaceflight named Inspiration4, in recognition of the four-person crew's mission to inspire support for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a paediatric treatment and research centre, and to represent a new age for human spaceflight and exploration.
Isaacman will be donating the three mission seats to crew members who will be selected to represent the mission pillars of leadership, hope, generosity and prosperity.
"Inspiration4 is the realisation of a lifelong dream and a step towards a future in which anyone can venture out and explore the stars. 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," he said in a statement.
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Isaacman is rated to fly commercial and military aircraft. He holds several world records, including a round-the-world flight to raise money and awareness for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Flying in over 100 airshows as part of the Black Diamond Jet Team, he dedicates his every performance to charitable causes. In 2011, Isaacman co-founded the Draken International, the world's largest private air force to train pilots for the United States Armed Forces.
The Inspiration4 crew will be boarding a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, "Resilience", which will have no professional astronauts aboard, said SpaceX founder Elon Musk. The crew will undergo astronaut training by SpaceX on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft, with a focus on orbital mechanics, operating in microgravity, zero gravity and other forms of stress testing. They'll also receive emergency preparedness training, spacesuit and spacecraft ingress and egress exercises as well as partial and full-mission simulations.
The mission will launch from the historic Launch Complex 39A at Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will be monitored every step of the way by SpaceX mission control as the spacecraft orbits the planet every 90 minutes. Upon ending its multi-day journey, the spacecraft will re-enter Earth's atmosphere for a soft water-landing off the coast of Florida.
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