How a Space Trip Brought $240 Million to St. Jude’s
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard about the historical space flight launched last September under the SpaceX program. The Inspiration4 mission marked the first civilian-only flight into space. Each of the four crew members (for which the mission was named) represented the mission pillars of leadership, hope, generosity, and prosperity.
Spaceflight made a tremendous impact upon re-entry, but not the type you’d expect. The Inspiration4 mission raised over $240 million dollars for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, potentially changing and saving the lives of countless children and their families.
Inspiration4 initially had a $200 million fundraising goal, but soared past the benchmark thanks to the generosity of Jared Isaacman, who funded and commanded the historic spaceflight. A self-proclaimed space geek and accomplished pilot and entrepreneur, Isaacman was the obvious choice for the role. He currently holds the world record for a speed-around-the-world flight and has flown in over 100 airshows with the Black Diamond Jet Team.
Isaacman is also a dedicated philanthropist and has been very open about the desire he has to help improve the lives of others. Each of his two world-record flights benefited the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and a cool $100 million of Inspiration4’s total donation came from his own pocket.
Isaacman plans to remain steadfast in his philanthropy following the flight, noting that St. Jude and Space Camp (an organization based in Huntsville, Alabama) exposes students to crucial STEM topics like robotics, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity) will remain some of his top priorities. Last year, Isaacman and his wife, Monica, signed the Giving Pledge, committing to give the majority of their wealth to charity over the course of their lifetimes.
Isaacman was joined aboard the Inspiration4 flight by three other civilians, living out childhood dreams. St. Jude’s own Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant and childhood cancer survivor, became the youngest American to embark on spaceflight.
Data engineer Chris Sembroski served as a mission specialist, managing tasks including payload, science experiments and communications to mission control. Geoscientist and science communication specialist Sian Proctor joined the crew after winning her spot thanks to a project that in part celebrated her AfronautSpace art, which she uses to encourage conversations about women of color in the space industry.
Leading up to the Inspiration4 launch in September 2021, the civilian astronauts underwent about six months of training. Even though government astronauts typically spend around two years training for spaceflight, the nature of the civilian mission allowed for an abbreviated training period. The Inspiration4 mission was much shorter than most official space flights, logging only three days in orbit, compared to an average stay on the International Space Station, which lasts for six months or more.
Isaacman and his crew members didn’t require training in space station systems or spacewalks, but the astronauts prepared for spaceflight with training built on a NASA-approved curriculum. Throughout the training, the Inspiration4 crew learned how to withstand the physical strain of spaceflight. They also memorized every feature of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft capsule, Resilience.
Resilience is a unique spacecraft, capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to (or beyond) Earth’s orbit and back. It’s also the only currently-flying spacecraft capable of returning to Earth carrying significant amounts of cargo.
Perhaps even more impressive is the Falcon 9, the mission’s two-stage orbital-class rocket that is reusable and capable of reflight. The rocket’s reusability allows its most expensive parts to be reflown, significantly reducing the cost of space access and creating more opportunities like Inspiration4.
Although Inspiration4 only circled the Earth for three days, its impact and influence will outlast all of us. The contributions to St. Jude will find a new 625,000 square foot research facility and support a strategic plan to accelerate worldwide cancer research and treatment, changing the lives of families all over the world.
The historic Inspiration4 mission is sure to spark curiosity, passion and innovation for space exploration, particularly among the young minds next to take flight.
“In fulfilling a personal and lifelong dream, I recognize the tremendous responsibility that comes with commanding this mission,” Isaacman said before Inspiration4 took flight. “While a historic journey awaits us in space, I hope this mission reinforces how far inspiration can take us and the extraordinary achievements it leads to here on Earth.”