Monthly Archives: September 2021

SpaceX launched a motley crew of amateur astronauts into space on Wednesday in the first ever all-civilian orbital mission.

The crew of four civilians includes a high-school dropout for a commander, a medical officer who survived cancer as a child, an artist and college professor, and a man who won his seat through a charity donation.

Here's who they are, what their background is, and how they got their seats on what is set to be one of the most significant space tourism flights of all time.

Commander and Benefactor: Jared Isaacman

Jared Isaacman, 38, is the driving force behind this adventure, having struck a private deal with SpaceX.

The terms of that deal haven't been disclosed, but Mr Isaacman is using the trip to raise $200m (146m) for St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee - with half coming from his own pockets - and said the anticipated donation to St Jude's "vastly exceeds the cost of the mission".

A high school drop-out, Mr Isaacman is the founder and chief executive of Shift4 Payments, a payment processing company which he started as a 16-year-old in 1999.

Reportedly a billionaire and a keen pilot, he set a speed record flying around the world in 2009 while raising money for the Make-A-Wish programme, and later established Draken International, the world's largest private fleet of fighter jets.

He said: "I truly want us to live in a world 50 or 100 years from now where people are jumping in their rockets like the Jetsons and there are families bouncing around on the moon with their kid in a spacesuit.

"I also think if we are going to live in that world, we better conquer childhood cancer along the way."

Chief medical officer and Hope seat: Hayley Arceneaux

When Hayley Arceneaux was just 10 years old, she was diagnosed with bone cancer. She received treatment at the St Jude Children's Research Hospital, including chemotherapy and a limb-saving surgery.

This surgery involved replacing her knee and placing a titanium rod in her left femur.

Now, as a healthy adult, Ms Arceneaux works at the hospital - which she credits with saving her life - as a physician assistant for patients with leukaemia and lymphoma.

She was selected for the mission by Mr Isaacman, who said he couldn't think of a better brand ambassador to represent St Jude and the spirit of hope on his mission.

"It's an incredible honour to be a part of this mission that is not only raising crucial funds for the lifesaving work of St. Jude, but also introducing new supporters to the cause and showing cancer survivors that anything is possible," she said.

Generosity seat: Chris Sembroski

Chris Sembroski won his seat on the mission courtesy of a friend who donated to St Jude in July.

He's an employee of Lockheed Martin and a veteran of the US Air Force, where he helped maintain a fleet of the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles and deployed in Iraq.

He is described as having long held an interest in space exploration, and after leaving the Air Force studied professional aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he met the unidentified friend who gave him his seat.

"Joining the Inspiration4 crew and its mission of support for St Jude is truly a dream come true. It is my hope that this flight will inspire others to pay that generosity forward by pledging their support for St Jude and encouraging kids to dream the impossible, ushering in a new era of space exploration open to all," he said.

Prosperity seat: Dr Sian Proctor

Dr Sian Proctor was previously a finalist for the 2009 astronaut programme at NASA, has a pilot license, and works as a professor of geoscience at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, Arizona.

She was born in Guam to a father who worked for NASA at a tracking station there during the Apollo missions, and has conducted a series of simulated space missions at the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) Habitat.

She won her seat as a customer of Mr Isaacman's Shift4 Payments, as part of a plan to select someone "who utilises the new Shift4Shop eCommerce platform, which empowers entrepreneurs to build and grow successful eCommerce businesses online".

Dr Proctor has given a TEDx talk called Eat Like a Martian and previously published the Meals for Mars Cookbook, following her NASA-funded HI-SEAS mission on food strategies for long-term space travel.

As an artist, she tries to encourage conversations about creating a JEDI Space, or a space environment that is Just, Equitable, Diverse and Inclusive.

She said: "I am thrilled to part of the historic Inspiration4 crew and to represent the Prosperity seat. Going to space has always been a dream of mine, and being able to inspire the world through art and poetry makes it even more special for me."

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SpaceX: Who are the civilians on the Inspiration4 mission? - Sky News

If youve ever wondered how Amazon will eventually come into play in space (besides a trip from Jeff Bezos), a new series with roots in Reston, Virginia, might have your answers.

ASCEND, an online professional community for those interested in space exploration, has a brand new series on what the future of space might look like. Short for Accelerate Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery, Restons ASCEND was launched in 2020 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, an aerospace technical society.

Fast Forward: Envisioning the Off-World Future, which premiered last month, is a new video series on what the future of space might look like.The on-demand series, which is releasing new episodes a few times per month, covers the growth of industries in space, from infrastructure to medical science and commerce. Its pilot episode, Accelerating Biomedical R&D in Space, features Techshot VP Rich Boling and covers the biomedical industry in space (in other words, manufacturing organs in space). The series is hosted by Devin Liddell, principal futurist at design firm Teague, and Kara Cunzeman, lead futurist for strategic foresight at The Aerospace Corporation, a nonprofit for space analyses and testing.

Liddell told Technical.ly that the intention of the series is to help people get a grasp on what the future of space will really look like, and how close we are to a whole host of innovation that seems like something out of a sci-fi movie.

Fast Forward cohost Devin Liddell (Courtesy photo)

When you start thinking about what will happen in space, in particular, the activities of industry, I think there is a tendency to think about it perhaps too narrowly, Liddell said. So one of the things we want to get across with the series is Hey, here are some key industries that may actually be unexpected from your research point, and what theyre anticipating doing in space near-term and far-term, and its extraordinary.

Each episode, which will run about 25-30 minutes, will feature a guest expert to talk about a specific facet of the space industry. Next up will be Michael Costas of Bechtel Corporation, an engineering and construction firm, and Brian Barritt, an engineering manager from Facebook.

While there are many facets of technology involved in a space trip, Liddell said he hopes to highlight aspects of artificial intelligence in future episodes.

So, how do we illuminate some of those technical challenges that were going to have to solve for? Liddell said. Yes, theyre challenges, but theyre also exciting ones.

Cunzeman, on the other hand, said shes particularly fascinated by the manufacturing possibilities within space. In the same way that she said companies like Amazon will be predicting when people run out of frequently bought items, like dog food, and replenish them, that same technology can be applied to the International Space Station and lunar bases.

Theres some real benefits for space as a manufacturing ecosystem, and thats not on Mars, thats right in our backyard, Cunzeman said.

Liddell agreed, noting that one exciting part of this technology is that whatever humans replicate for space, it will need to have its own twist and innovation to make it plausible in space.

We think aboutall of the touchpoints that comprise the human experience on Earth, Liddell said. Theres a lot of that which will import into space in fairly translatable ways, but theres a lot that actually will have slight turns that will be extraordinary in their own way.

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Tune in to Fast Forward, a new video series on the space industry's future from Reston's ASCEND - Technical.ly DC

Sharada Ghantasala of Brentwood is a finalist for the BreakthroughJunior Challenge, an international competition working to inspire "creative thinking about science."

Alongside hundreds of teens ages 13 to 18 from over 200 countries, Ghantasala submitted an originalvideo on a topic of her choosing within life sciences, physics or mathematics. She chose the topic of bioastronautics, afield of studymany may have never heard of.

"I thought this was the perfect opportunity tolearn why space travel is important," she said to the Tennessean.

Growing up, Ghantasala wasn't quite sure why space was something worth learning about when there was so much that needed to be addressed on earth.

After attending space camp at Tennessee State University as a child, visiting Kennedy Space Center in 2019, and later finding Breakthrough's submission opportunity, the STEM lover decided she'd create a video exploring space exploration's impact on biomedical sciences, a field in which she hopes to find a career.

Bioastronautics studies how space travel impacts the body. Ghantasala was specifically intrigued by how this study isresponsible for much of the world's knowledge on how gravity impacts the body both on space and on earth.

"I justthought this was really interesting and that if I made this video, I could really bring awareness to the fact thatgravity kind of controls our lives and we don't even realize it," Ghantasala said.

The teen's original video, complete with her own hosting and animation, can be found on Facebook alongside 29 other semifinalists from six other geographic regions. To obtain the popular vote and hopefullybecome a finalist,Ghantasala needs her video to win as many likes as possible on Facebook.

The more likes she receives, the closer she is to winning $250,000 in college scholarships, $50,000 for her teacher and a new $100,000 science lab for her school, alltotaling a whopping $400,000.

Although much of her college tuition could be covered with this prize, she's mostly focused on its benefit for others.

"The reason I really wanted to do this is to help my school and my teacher," she said. "And in the future, I really want to help people who may not have the financial situation to get the education they deserve, or to get the health care that they deserve.

"So, just like my video, I want to provide access to educational videos or educational material andcreatively convey information to all kinds of people."

You can watch and vote for Ghantasala's video now through Sept. 20 on Facebook.Finalists will be announced on Sept. 21.

Anika Exum is a reporter for the Tennessean covering Williamson County. Reach her at aexum@tennessean.com or on Twitter at @aniexum.

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Brentwood teen is one of 30 semifinalists in global STEM video competition - Tennessean

(Reuters) - The quartet of private citizens who make up the Inspiration4 team, poised to make history aboard a SpaceX rocket ship as the first all-civilian crew launched into orbit, may appear at first glance to be everyday people, but they are far from ordinary.

They consist of a billionaire internet commerce executive and jet pilot; a geoscientist and onetime finalist in NASA's astronaut candidate program; a physician's assistant at the childhood cancer hospital where she was once a patient; and an aerospace data engineer and U.S. Air Force veteran.

The crew vehicle, dubbed Resilience, is scheduled for liftoff on Wednesday https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/spacex-gets-ready-launch-first-all-civilian-crew-orbit-2021-09-12 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Following are profiles of the Inspiration4 crew.

JARED ISAACMAN, 38, MISSION COMMANDER

Originator and billionaire benefactor of the Inspiration4 project, Isaacman paid an undisclosed hefty sum - reported by Time magazine to have run roughly $200 million - for all four seats aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.

A lifelong aviation enthusiast who flew in the Black Diamond civilian aerobatics jet squad and co-founded a private air force of fighter planes for military training called Draken International, Isaacman earned his fortune in e-commerce.

Isaacman parlayed the business he started as a teenager in the basement of his family's home into one of the leading U.S. financial transaction services, Shift4 Payments Inc

SIAN PROCTOR, 51, MISSION PILOT

A geoscience professor at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix with a doctorate in science education, Proctor's lifelong passion for space exploration is rooted in her father's work on Guam, where she was born, for a NASA tracking station during the Apollo lunar missions.

A licensed pilot and major in Arizona's Civil Air Patrol, she has completed four "analog" astronaut projects involving simulated space activities, including a NASA-funded four-month artificial Mars mission to study food strategies for long-duration spaceflights.

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Proctor also was a 2009 finalist in NASA's astronaut candidate program, and is now poised to become only the fourth African-American woman ever to fly to space. She was chosen through an online business contest conducted by Shift4 Payments as part of the Inspiration4 crew selection.

HAYLEY ARCENEAUX, 29, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER

A childhood bone cancer survivor, Arceneaux went on to become a physician assistant at St. Jude Children's Research Center in Memphis, Tennessee, the leading pediatric cancer center where she was once a patient. Arceneaux, who lost part of her left thigh and knee to cancer at age 10, boasts that she will become the first person with a prosthetic body part to go into space.

She will also be the youngest American to go to space and the youngest person ever to fly into orbit. According to SpaceX, only 553 humans have ever been to orbit.

St. Jude, where Arceneaux now works with leukemia and lymphoma patients, is the chief beneficiary of the Inspiration4 project, which Isaacman conceived primarily as a fundraising and promotional endeavor for the institute.

Arceneaux has said she was motivated to take part in the spaceflight to show her young patients "what life can look like after cancer."

CHRIS SEMBROSKI, 42, MISSION SPECIALIST

A data engineer at aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Corp in Everett, Washington, Sembroski spent some of his free time in college launching high-powered model rockets and volunteered with ProSpace, a grassroots organization that lobbied on behalf of private space ventures on Capitol Hill.

Sembroski also conducted simulated space shuttle missions as a counselor for U.S. Space Camp, a government-funded science, technology and engineering youth camp in Huntsville, Alabama.

He joined the U.S. Air Force as an electro-mechanical technician, and was deployed to Iraq and also helped maintain a fleet of Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles before leaving active duty in 2007.

Sembroski was selected for the Inspiration4 crew through a sweepstakes that drew 72,000 applicants and raised $113 million in St. Jude donations.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Will Dunham and Peter Cooney)

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Factbox-Profiles of first all-civilian space crew headed for orbit - Yahoo News

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk'sSpace Exploration Technologies Corp, or SpaceX, is set to launch itsFalcon 9 rocket Wednesday night in what will be the first all-civilian crew to be sentto space.The three-day Inspiration4 mission aims to raise $200million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

How To Invest: Although SpaceX is not yet a publicly-traded company, here are a few ways investors can indirectly invest in the space exploration company.

Google's parent company Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) invested in SpaceX in 2015. The tech giant invested $1 billion in a joint venture with Fidelity.

At that time the company was valued at $10 billion. There is no evidence that suggests Alphabet has sold its share of the 10% stake itacquired with Fidelity. Based on a February 2021 private market valuation, SpaceX is currently valued around $74 billion.

The Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust, which trades on the London Stock Exchange, also owns a stake in SpaceX. According to numbers updated on Aug.31, 2021, the Baillie Gifford Trust owns a 2% stake inSpaceX. It also owns a 3.7% stake in Tesla.

Flight Details: The flightwill mark SpaceX's 125th Falcon 9 launch and its23rdlaunch in 2021. The flight will bethe fourth crewed mission for SpaceX, but it'sthe first to carry private citizens to space.

Related Link:Elon Musk's SpaceX To Launch 4 Civilians Into Space Today In Its First-Such Mission And Netflix Is Running A Special Livestream

Liftoff is scheduledfor 8:02 p.m. ET Wednesday night. The eventwill be streamed livehere.

Photo:Steven Straitonfrom Flickr.

2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Here's How You Can Invest In Elon Musk's SpaceX Before The Company Goes Public - Benzinga

Taiwan attends a space organization event hosted online by India (CNA, Taiwanese office in India photo). Taiwan attends a space organization event hosted online by India (CNA, Taiwanese office in India photo).

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) The National Space Organization (NSPO) is attending the International Space Conference and Exhibition hosted by India in the hope of establishing a cooperative relationship on space technology with the South Asian country, reports said Wednesday (Sept. 15).

The Sept. 13 to Oct. 4 event is taking place online by video conference because of the COVID-19 pandemic, CNA reported. In addition to Taiwan, seven other countries have their national space organizations participating, with the Australian Space Agency as the major partner, and 14 centers of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) are represented at the event.

The NSPO said its weather-related photography is useful for disaster prevention around the world, while it can also offer its work on typhoon prediction to other nations. One of the aspirations of the Taiwanese space group is to sign a document of cooperation with its Indian counterpart, the report said.

The NSPO also invited Indian and other groups to attend iCASE 2021, the international conference on astronautics and space exploration it has scheduled for Nov. 16-18.

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Taiwan attends space conference and expo hosted by India - Taiwan News