Contest winners, healthcare worker in orbit around the world in SpaceX 1st

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The four people on SpaceX’s first private flight are fairly normal, down-to-earth types gathered by chance

By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer

September 16, 2021, 01:49

5 minutes of reading

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – The four people on SpaceX’s first private flight are fairly normal, down-to-earth types, gathered by chance.

They will circle the Earth for three days at an unusually high altitude on their own without a professional escort before splashing off the coast of Florida.

Meet the crew who are taking space tourism to new heights after launching Wednesday night from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center:

JARED ISAACMAN, SPONSOR

Isaacman got rich with the payment processing business he started in his parents’ basement after he dropped out of high school. He later went to an aviation college, took to the skies in combat aircraft, and founded Draken International to provide military-style training on tactical aircraft. Space beckoned and the Easton, Pennsylvania businessman bought an entire flight from SpaceX to circle the Earth. The 38-year-old considers flying in air shows, his other hobby, far more dangerous. I don’t consider myself a risk taker or a thrill seeker, says Isaacman, whose daughters are 7 and 5 years old. I try to look for what I think are interesting challenges in life and, when I can, tie them up with a useful cause. This time it’s St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. Isaacman pledged $ 100 million to St. Jude and is seeking another $ 100 million in public donations. To carry home the message that space is only for ordinary people, Isaacman offered one of the four capsule seats in St. Jude and organized a raffle for the other two.

HAYLEY ARCENEAUX, ST. JUDES REP

Now a physician assistant at St. Jude, Arceneaux was ill with bone cancer at the hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of 10. To save her left leg, St. Jude replaced her knee and part of her femur, implanting a titanium rod. She is the first person with a prosthesis in space and, at the age of 29, the youngest American. He was St. Judes’ fugitive choice in January as a representative of hospitals in space. Arceneaux kept up with his fellow travelers in training, even as he trudged up Washingtons Mount Rainier in the snow. Its only compromise: SpaceX has adjusted its capsule seat to relieve knee pain. I’m so excited to open space travel to so many, so many different types of people and to those who aren’t physically perfect, says Arceneaux. Shell chatted with patients from St. Jude’s Orbit, reminding them that their dreams can come true too. He brought with him the late father’s St. Jude tie, a precious possession. I am so grateful for my journey with cancer because it has given me love for life, just a zest for life and the confidence to say yes to opportunities, she says. This is the greatest honor of my life.

CHRIS SEMBROSKI, WINNER OF THE LOTTERY

Sembroski, an air force veteran and data engineer for Lockheed Martin in Everett, Washington, has always seen himself as the promoter of behind-the-scenes space, helping to educate the public. He launched model rockets in college and worked as a space field consultant. So he considered it a crazy fantasy when he saw the Super Bowl commercial in February announcing the lottery for seats in space and made a donation to participate. He didn’t win, but a friend from college did, and offered Sembroski his seat on the flight. Sembroski claims he was more submissive than the others when he found out: “Only no words came out. Since then, I have become much more enthusiastic. After six months of training, Sembroski, 42, has no worries, worries, maybe a little bit. ‘of stage fright to sing and play an orbiting ukulele that will be auctioned to support St. Jude. His teacher wife, Erin, is more than anxious for it for the two of us. They have two daughters, aged 3 and 9 Sembroski says that hell reflects on the historical nature of flight and its role in it once it returns to Earth.

SIAN PROCTOR, BUSINESS WINNER

Proctor applied to NASA three times to become an astronaut. The 51-year-old geologist and community college professor from Tempe, Arizona made it to the finals more than a decade ago. After striking with NASA, he set his sights on private space flight. But as 2021 approached, he thought she had aged until she learned about Isaacman’s space lotteries for her clients. She began creating space-themed artwork when the coronavirus pandemic hit and turned to the Isaacmans Shift4 company to sell her paintings. When asked on the eve of the launch if she was nervous, she said her only concern was that this moment would never come in my life. Being only the fourth black woman in space after three NASA astronauts, Proctor hopes to inspire other minority women. As we move to the moon, Mars and beyond, we’re writing the narrative of human spaceflight right now with a focus on diversity, Proctor says. We were on Starship Earth and we want to take everyone with us. He caught the space bug early: his late father worked at NASA’s location station in Guam during the Apollo moon landings.

The Associated Press Department of Health and Science receives support from the Science Education Department of Howard Hughes Medical Institutes. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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