PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — There’s still a chance that you could go to space as part of the Space X all-civilian mission.
The Inspiration4 mission, involving the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, is scheduled to launch later this year and will include people who are special to the research hospital.
“This is a significant first step where everyone can go explore amongst the stars,” said Jared Isaacman, the mission commander for Inspiration4.
In what Isaacman called the first all-civilian space flight, the Inspiration4 mission will launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and orbit the Earth.
St. Jude is the chosen beneficiary for Inspiration4, with one seat going to Hayley Arceneaux, a 29-year-old physician assistant at St. Jude who herself was treated at the hospital for bone cancer as a child. She is taking the seat that represents “hope.”
Another St. Jude seat on the mission represents “generosity,” and it will go to a randomly chosen member of the public who donates at least $10 to the research hospital.
Feb. 28 is the deadline to apply to win a seat to be a part of the mission.
“One of the things we hope to accomplish and why we named our mission Inspiration4 was to inspire others to go out and be amongst the stars today but also to inspire people with what’s possible that can still be done here on Earth,” Isaacman explained.
He said that includes making sure kids like these go on to live healthy lives and maybe even one day, go to space themselves.
“If we can accomplish all that, then we sure as heck better have tackled childhood cancer along the way,” he said.