Isaacman said on Monday that in addition to fulfilling his dream, he wants to use a trip to space for a good cause. His goal is to raise $ 200 million for St. Petersburg Children’s Hospital. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, half of which he pays.
Any other person who donates money to the hospital in February will be entered into a draw for second place in the Crew Dragon spacecraft. A nurse from the aforementioned children’s hospital was chosen as the third passenger for the flight. The fourth place will go to one of the entrepreneurs who use Isaacman’s company Shift4 Payments, which deals with payment processing. According to the AFP agency, the draw is intended for Americans over the age of 18.
The robot will control
Isaacman himself will be the commander of the spacecraft crew, which will be taken out of Cape Canaveral, Florida by the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The flights are controlled automatically, but in case of emergency the pilot can switch to manual control. SpaceX founder and boss Elon Musk said the flight would take two to four days.
“I really want us to live in a world that will be here in fifty or a hundred years, when people jump into a rocket like Jetson and where families jump on the moon with their kids in spacesuits.” told AP Isaacman, who will celebrate his 38th birthday next week. “I also think that if we live in such a world, we will be better able to overcome childhood cancer,” he added.
–
It is not known how much Isaacman the planned flight will cost. The billionaire only said that his $ 100 million donation to the children’s hospital “far exceeds the cost of the mission.”
Experienced pilot
Isaacman, who claims to have been interested in space in kindergarten, underwent pilot training as an adult and set a speed record in orbiting the Earth in 2009, the AP agency wrote. He later founded Draken International, which operates the largest privately owned squadron of former military aircraft in the world.
In addition to training for a mission aboard the SpaceX, Isaacman intends to take the crew on an expedition to the mountains to recall his past experience of camping in freezing winter conditions. “Before the start, we all need to get to know each other really well,” the businessman explained.
– .
