Four Americans must take off Thursday morning from Florida, between 2:02 am and 7:02 am (Paris time), to participate in the an unprecedented space mission, 100% civilian, without a professional astronaut.
Little known to the general public, the members of Inspiration4, operated by the private company SpaceX, will orbit aboard the Crew Dragon for three days 590 km from Earth.
The trip is intended to raise awareness and raise funds for St Jude Children's Research Hospital, located in Memphis, Tennessee.
Jared Isaacman
, 38, commands the mission and finance: it is he who paid SpaceX the "tickets" of his teammates. If he is now a billionaire, he has not always been successful. The former dunce, originally from New Jersey, dropped out of high school at 15. A year later, he created with his parents the company that would later become Shift4 Payments, a credit card transaction processing service for merchants and restaurants. It is now listed on the stock exchange and employs 1,200 people.
In the meantime, Jared Isaacman developed a passion for aviation.
He holds several world travel records which, like Inspiration4, have enabled him to raise money for sick children.
“It's the American dream, the American ambition.
In the United States, there is a lot of
give back
: I made a fortune, I give back to the community, I give to children.
It's a beautiful message ”,
comments François Chopard, founder of Starburst, accelerator of space start-ups.
In 2008, Jared Isaacman attended the takeoff of Soyuz, with a tourist, Richard Garriott, on board, accompanied for his part by astronauts in the rocket and in the International Space Station (ISS).
At 29,
Hayley Arceneaux
will become the youngest American astronaut. She will also be the first person in the world wearing a prosthesis to go to space. And according to Netflix's mission-focused “Countdown” series, she would also be the first pediatric cancer survivor to fly away. Because the young woman from Louisiana was treated in her childhood for bone cancer. It was at St Jude Hospital, where Hayley Arceneaux is now a medical assistant in a department that treats patients with leukemia or lymphomas. This same establishment that the Inspiration4 mission must promote and help finance.
Christopher Sembroski
, 42, is also linked to this hospital, since he participated in a fundraiser. A friend who won a prize draw among donors gave him his seat in the Crew Dragon. Former US Air Force Chris Sembroski fought in the Iraq War. This space enthusiast is now an engineer in the aeronautics industry for Lockheed Martin.
Sian Proctor
, born 51 years ago on the island of Guam, will be the fourth African American to go into space. Arizona geology teacher, explorer and science education specialist, she is multi-cap. Her father worked at NASA and she herself tried to join the US Space Agency twice, to no avail. She was chosen by Jared Isaacman's company, following a selection made from a panel of television entrepreneurs.