posted 11-06-2022 09:08 AM               

Space Cover 675: SpaceX Inspiration4 Mission

Inspiration4 marked the world's first all-civilian mission to orbit. The mission was commanded by Jared Isaacman, the then-38-year-old founder and Chief Executive Officer of Shift4 Payments and an accomplished pilot and adventurer. On September 15, 2021, the Inspiration4 mission launched the Crew Dragon Resilience and it's four person crew from Kennedy Space Center's historic Launch Complex 39A, the embarkation point for Apollo and Space Shuttle missions, and traveled across a low-Earth orbit on a three-day journey splashing down off the Florida coast on September 18.

Named in recognition of the four-person crew that raised awareness and over $240 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, this milestone represented a new era for human spaceflight and exploration.

The trip was the first orbital spaceflight with only private citizens aboard. Isaacman served as mission commander, an experienced pilot with qualification in military jets, he procured the flight from SpaceX and donated two of the seats to St. Jude. Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at the hospital and a survivor of bone cancer was selected by the hospital to board the flight.

St. Jude raffled the second seat as part of a successful campaign to raise US$200 million for the hospital, termed St. Jude Mission: Inspired. Kyle Hippchen, from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, won the raffle but decided to give the seat to his friend, United States Air Force veteran and space enthusiast Christopher Sembroski. Planetary science communicator and geoscientist Sian Proctor was selected by Shift4 Payments to board the flight through a competition modeled after Shark Tank that rewarded the best business idea to make use of Shift4's commerce solutions.

"In fulfilling a personal and lifelong dream, I recognize the tremendous responsibility that comes with commanding this mission. 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." — Jared Isaacman

posted 11-11-2022 05:49 AM               

When I first saw this post, I was thinking perhaps the cachet cover set might had been issued by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, SpaceX, or Isaacman's Shift4 Payment organization, which would had been great. To go even a step further, perhaps as a fundraiser for the St. Jude research hospital, I would have loved to see a crew signed cover set for charity or even just a single signed cover. Another step further, include a crew signed photo as well.