“Inspiration 4” gives chance at space flight to civilians
(KWTX) - SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, along with Billionaire Jared Isaacman, are making commercial space flight available to everyone through their next mission, Inspiration 4.
SpaceX tests its rocket motors at its facility in McGregor west of Waco.
The pair held a teleconference late last week, outlining the mission,
“It’s an important milestone toward enabling space for everyone,” Musk said.
On the mission, three of the four seats will be awarded to civilians, with Isaacman taking the fourth. One seat will go to a frontline healthcare worker, another to a small business owner, and the last will be given to someone who will be chosen at random from donations made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Isaacman, the CEO of Shift4 Payments, is donating the first $100 million to the fundraising effort. But, with each donation made to St. Jude through the campaign, they hope to reach $200 million.
“I know how lucky I’ve been in my life,” Isaacman said. “I’ve gotten to experience a number of great things. And you know there’s just an awful lot of families that sadly aren’t even going to be in that situation and we just have to do something about it. "
The competition runs through the end of February.
Inspiration 4 will blast off on board a “Dragon” capsule sometime this fall.
If you’d like to make a donation, or to learn about the mission, click here.
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