SpaceX's first all-civilian crew is set for lift-off next September for a three-day mission designed to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Jared Isaacman, a pilot and CEO of payment processor Shift4 Payments, who is funding the mission, told Cheddar that the launch will be the beginning of a new era of civilian space travel.
"This is the first time that you didn't have a global superpower sending people into space," he said. "This is the first step towards a world where everyday people are going to be able to go and explore among the stars and all the great things to come from here."
The goal is for the mission to raise $200 million for the research hospital. Isaacman, who has already donated $100 million, said the initiative is about 60 percent of the way toward its goal.
Two members of the crew, Sian Proctor and Chris Sembroski, both of whom have backgrounds in science and aerospace, were selected through a lottery.
"This is huge for me. I thought that this moment had passed me by," said Proctor, a scientist and educator who was previously a finalist in NASA's 2009 astronaut class.
The mission will launch from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A where the historic Apollo and space shuttle programs were based.
The team starts training on Wednesday with a visit to the centrifuge. Then it's on to a mountaineering expedition at the end of the month, with plenty of manual-reading on orbital mechanics and simulated flight training in between.
"We have a packed schedule for sure," said Sembroski, a former Air Force missileman and Lockheed Martin employee.
The fourth member of the crew, Hayley Arceneaux, a cancer researcher from St. Jude's who herself was treated for bone cancer at the hospital as a 10-year-old child, said the mission will inspire the young people with who she works every day.
"I think this mission is going to give a lot of kids, who are just like me 19 years ago battling cancer, I think it's going to give them hope, and hope is priceless," she said.
The flight will travel at 17,500 miles per hour up to 335 miles high in Earth's lower orbit.
"That's pretty much farther than anyone's gone in probably the last 15 years," he said.
At one point, he added, the crew will look down on the Hubble space telescope.
"It's really symbolic of all of the cool missions that will come," Isaacman said. "We know we're going back to the Moon, and then we're going to Mars, and then we're going beyond."
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
