SpaceX is launching its very first civilian flight as a part of its mission called “Inspiration4,” and there are two seats up for grabs. The expedition will depart in the fourth quarter of 2021, between September and December, and will launch a capsule that will orbit the earth for three to four days, circumnavigating the planet every 90 minutes.
Photo: SpaceX/Shutterstock
You Can Win a Trip to Space on SpaceX's First-Ever Civilian Flight
Two of the four spaces have already been secured by billionaire Jared Isaacman, the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, and Hayley Arceneaux, a 29-year-old physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and bone cancer survivor. Isaacman, who is also a jet pilot and holds several world records — one of which was for circumnavigating the globe in a light jet — initially purchased all four seats and donated the others. Each seat has its own name that reflects the pillars of the expedition — leadership, hope, generosity, and prosperity, with the latter two still available.
The final seats can be won via a competition, with the lucky winners being announced sometime in March.
For a chance to win the “generosity” seat, entrants must make a donation to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee, a research facility that focuses on children’s diseases, particularly leukemia and other cancers. Donations start at as little as $10. Each dollar donated gives people 10 chances to win, with the maximum being capped at $10,000. That said, if a donation is not financially possible people can still enter by agreeing to communication from the hospital via this form. For a chance to win the “prosperity” seat, participants are being asked to launch an online business using the Isaacman-founded Shift4Shop ecommerce platform. More information on this process can be found here.
The deadline for the “generosity” seat is coming up fast, on February 28. The fourth seat’s deadline is yet to be announced.
In order to be eligible, all participants must be at least 18 years old and living in the United States. The lucky winners will undergo commercial astronaut training ahead of the mission.
If you’ve always wanted to visit outer space, this may be your golden ticket. 