Tag: Jared Isaacman

SpaceX Civilian Passengers Heading Into Space This Year

Article by Anthony Cuthbertson                                        April 2, 2021                                         (msn.com)

• In the autumn of 2021, Jared Isaacman will sponsor and participate in the first-ever ‘all civilian’ three days in orbit commercial ‘Inspiration4 mission’ on a SpaceX Dragon rocket. Isaacman, 38, is himself a pilot and will serve as spacecraft commander.

• On Earth, Isaacman is the head of Shift4 Payments, a credit card-processing company in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He is covering the bill for what will be SpaceX’s first private flight, while raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Isaacman is donating $100 million to St. Jude. A lottery was created to offer other donors a chance to fly in space, raising another $13 million.

• In addition to the previously announced passenger Hayley Arceneaux, 29, a St. Jude physician assistant who was treated there as a child for bone cancer, two others were chosen by lottery. They are: Ms. Sian Proctor, 51, a college instructor and space art artist from Tempe, Arizona chosen by a panel of judges, and Mr. Chris Sembroski, 41, a former Air Force missileman from Everett Washington and Space Camp counsellor who took the place of a friend who declined to fly for personal reasons

• Proctor applied three times to Nasa’s astronaut corps, coming close in 2009, and took part in simulated Mars missions in Hawaii. She was born in Guam where her father worked at NASA’s tracking station for the Apollo mission moonshots. She plans to teach from space and create art up there, too. “To me, everything that I’ve done… has brought me to this moment,” she said.

• Their SpaceX Dragon capsule will launch no earlier than mid-September, aiming for an altitude of 335 miles. That’s about 75 miles higher than the International Space Station, on the same level with the Hubble Space Telescope.

• The next-generation SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is still undergoing testing and is yet to land successfully after flying to a high altitude. But other SpaceX flights using the craft are expected to follow the Inspiration4 mission before Elon Musk’s company begins commercial operations of its Starship vehicle.

• Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has already reserved the first Starship tickets for a trip around the Moon scheduled for 2023.

 

                   Inspiration4 capsule

SpaceX has revealed the final members of its civilian crew who will take part in the

    Hayley Arceneaux and Jared Isaacman

first-ever commercial space flight later this year.

The new passengers are Sian Proctor, a community college educator in Tempe, Arizona and Chris Sembroski, a former Air Force missileman from Everett Washington. They will join flight sponsor Jared Isaacman and another passenger for three days in orbit this autumn.

Mr Isaacman also revealed some details about his Inspiration4 mission, as the four gathered at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center this

        Chris Sembroski and Sian Proctor

week. He’s head of Shift4 Payments, a credit card-processing company in Allentown,

       Yusaku Maezawa and Elon Musk

Pennsylvania, and is paying for what would be SpaceX’s first private flight while raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Their SpaceX Dragon capsule will launch no earlier than mid-September, aiming for an altitude of 540 kilometres (335 miles). That’s 120 kilometres higher than the International Space Station and on a level with the Hubble Space Telescope.

Mr Isaacman, 38, a pilot who will serve as spacecraft commander, did not reveal how much he’s paying. He’s donating $100 million to St. Jude, while donors so far have contributed $13 million, primarily through the lottery that offered a chance to fly in space.

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Poll Shows Public’s Priorities in Space

Article by Marcia Smith                                        February 25, 2021                                         (spacepolicyonline.com)

• A survey of 2,200 American adults conducted February 12-15, 2021 by ‘Morning Consult’ ranked space research and exploration 25th in a list of 26 priorities for the Biden Administration. It appears that the public wants the government to focus its space research agenda on monitoring Earth’s climate, and not human exploration of the Moon and Mars. But a he same time, the public also wants the U.S. to keep its competitive edge in space over countries like Russia and China. Ranking the most threatening countries in space, respondents viewed China the biggest threat to the U.S at 52 percent, Russia next at 45 percent, North Korea at 34 percent, and Iran at 30 percent.

• With regard to activities in space, monitoring the Earth’s climate system is the top priority 35 percent of those surveyed. In second place is monitoring asteroids that might threaten Earth and third was developing technologies that could be used broadly, not only for space. At the bottom of the list of 10 possible priorities was sending civilians to the Moon or Mars, which was a priority for only 6 percent of the people polled. The public is slightly more amenable to sending professional astronauts to the Moon or to Mars, but not civilians.

• Regarding NASA’s Artemis program aiming to return people to the Moon and go on to Mars, only 33 percent of the participants rate the Moon goal as a top or important priority and 24 percent for Mars. When considering Jared Isaacman’s proposal to hold a lottery for people to join him on Inspiration4 in a space flight (see previous ExoArticle), 58 percent said they were unlikely to travel to space even if price was no object. Most of those polled supported Biden’s decision to keep the US Space Force many said they did not know as they felt they weren’t “up to speed” on the government’s space efforts.

 

A new poll from Morning Consult finds that the public wants the government to focus its space research agenda on monitoring Earth’s climate, not human exploration of the Moon and Mars. Overall it ranked space research and exploration 25th in a list of 26 priorities for the Biden Administration. However, it also wants the United States to keep its competitive edge in space over countries like Russia and China.

The top priority was monitoring Earth’s climate system for 35 percent of those surveyed, while it was “important, but lower priority” for 28 percent, “not too important of a priority” for 18 percent, “should not be done” for 7 percent, and “don’t know/no opinion” for 11 percent.

Second was monitoring asteroids that might threaten Earth and third was developing technologies that could be used broadly, not only for space.

               Jared Isaacman

At the bottom of the list of 10 possible priorities was sending civilians to the Moon or Mars. That was a top priority for just 6 percent, important for 18 percent, not too important for 39 percent, should not be done for 24 percent, and 12 percent did not know or had no opinion.

Ranking just above that was sending “astronauts” to the Moon or to Mars, which apparently refers to professional astronauts as compared to the general public. NASA is embarked on the Artemis program with commercial and international partners to return people to the Moon and go on to Mars, although according to this survey only 33 percent rate the Moon goal as a top or important priority and 24 percent for Mars.

Also of interest, especially as entrepreneur Jared Isaacman is testing the waters of public interest in flying into space by choosing a person by lottery to join him on Inspiration4, of those surveyed 58 percent said they were unlikely to travel to space themselves even if price was no object.

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Success of Private Space Companies Helps US Secure Space Domain

Article by Amanda Mcias and Michael Sheetz                                               February 3, 2021                                              (cnbc.com)

• Despite fears that the Covid-19 pandemic would slow this past decade’s momentum, private investment in space companies set a record in 2002. Space Capital reported that builders of rockets and satellites brought in $8.9 billion last year, and venture capital investors continued to pour funds into space businesses.

• “There is a ton of excitement across America on space in all sectors,” said General John Raymond, the US Space Force’s chief of operations. Raymond confirmed that Wall Street has invested billions in the space industry. This in turn has sparked renewed interest in space commerce and recruitment in Space Force.

• There are “people…wanting to come into the Space Force in numbers greater than what we have slots to fill. [U]niversities are seeing more students apply for space STEM degrees. I think is going to be great for our nation,” Raymond said. “I’m excited about all of it, both what we’re doing here on national security and what’s going on in the commercial industry that we can leverage the advantage.” “[W]e are stronger with a secure and stable space domain and all of those sectors play into that.”

• Space Force has increasingly looked to partner with the private space industry sector. The Pentagon is closely watching the progress of rocket builders like Rocket Lab, Astra and Virgin Orbit in addition to SpaceX.

• SpaceX announced this month that it will fly its first all-civilian crew into orbit later this year, a mission known as Inspiration 4. The landmark flight, led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, is aimed at using high-profile space tourism to raise support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Three yet-to-be-announced passengers will accompany Isaacman on the multiday journey around the Earth, with two of the seats to be decided in public online competitions this month.

• Raymond noted that SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully achieved the first operational launch of NASA’s Crew-1 mission, although SpaceX’s Starship rocket test flight on February 2nd was not so successful.

 

WASHINGTON – The nation’s top general leading the U.S. military mission in space said Wednesday that he is excited about Wall

             Jared Isaacman

Street and billionaire investment in the space industry, which has sparked renewed interest in the field among Americans and strong recruitment at the Pentagon’s youngest branch.

“There is a ton of excitement across America on space in all sectors,” said Gen. John Raymond, the U.S. Space Force’s chief of operations, when asked by CNBC about the strides made by private space companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“I’ve talked about people knocking on our door wanting to come into the Space Force in numbers greater than what we have slots to fill. I’ve talked in the past about how universities are seeing more students apply for space STEM degrees, which I think is going to be great for our nation,” Raymond added.

“I’m excited about all of it, both what we’re doing here on national security and what’s going on in the commercial industry that we can leverage the advantage,” the four-star general said without specifically naming any companies.

“The U.S. has always, has long understood that we are stronger with a secure and stable space domain and all of those sectors play into that,” Raymond said.

          General John Raymond

The U.S. Space Force, the Pentagon’s youngest branch, has increasingly looked to partner with the private sector as companies and investors pour into the space industry. The Pentagon is closely watching the progress of rocket builders like Rocket Lab, Astra and Virgin Orbit in addition to SpaceX.

Raymond’s comments came on the heels of SpaceX announcing this week that it will fly its first all-civilian crew into orbit later this year, a mission known as Inspiration 4.

The landmark flight, led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, is aimed at using high-profile space tourism to raise support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Three yet-to-be-announced passengers will accompany Isaacman on the multiday journey around the Earth, with two of the seats to be decided in public online competitions this month.

Raymond also called out NASA’s Crew-1 mission, which was the first operational launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.

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