CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. 鈥� A billionaire鈥檚 private SpaceX flight filled its two remaining seats Tuesday with a scientist-teacher and a data engineer whose college friend actually won a spot but gave him the prize.
The new passengers: Sian Proctor, a community college educator in Tempe, Arizona, and Chris Sembroski, a former Air Force missileman from Everett, Washington. They will join flight sponsor Jared Isaacman and another passenger for three days in orbit this fall.
Isaacman also revealed some details about his Inspiration4 mission, as the four gathered Tuesday at NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Center. He's head of Shift4 Payments, a credit card-processing company in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and is paying for what would be SpaceX's first private flight while raising money for St. Jude Children鈥檚 Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
Their SpaceX Dragon capsule 鈥� currently parked at the International Space Station for NASA 鈥� will launch no earlier than mid-September, aiming for an altitude of 335 miles (540
The capsule will be outfitted with a domed window in place of the usual space station docking mechanism for their trip.
Isaacman, 38, a pilot who will serve as spacecraft commander, still won鈥檛 say how much he鈥檚 paying. He's donating $100 million to St. Jude, while donors so far have contributed $13 million, primarily through the lottery that offered a chance to fly in space.
Hayley Arceneaux, 29, was named to the crew a month ago. The St. Jude physician assistant was treated there as a child for bone cancer.
That left two capsule seats open. Proctor, 51, beat out 200 businesses and nabbed the seat reserved for a customer of Isaacman's company. An independent panel of judges chose her space art
鈥淚t was like when Harry Potter found out he was a wizard, a little bit of shock and awe,鈥� Proctor told The Associated Press last week. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like, 鈥業鈥檓 the winner?鈥欌��
Sembroski, 41, donated and entered the lottery but wasn鈥檛 picked in the random drawing earlier this month 鈥� his friend was. His friend declined to fly for personal reasons and offered the spot to Sembroski, who worked as a Space Camp
鈥淛ust finding out that I鈥檓 going to space was an incredible, strange, surreal event,鈥� he said.
He's about to start a new job at Lockheed Martin and admits it will be a balancing act over the next six months, as the crew trains.
Isaacman insists they won't cut any corners as they prepare for launch.
鈥淵ou don't go up on Everest, right, after just a hike in the backyard. You build your way to it," he told reporters.
Proctor, who studied geology, applied three times to NASA鈥檚 astronaut corps, coming close in 2009, and took part in simulated Mars missions in Hawaii. She was born in Guam, where her late father 鈥� a 鈥淗idden Figure鈥� in her mind 鈥� worked at NASA鈥檚 tracking station for the Apollo moonshots, including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin鈥檚.
She plans to teach from space and create art up there, too.
鈥淭o me, everything that I鈥檝e done ... has brought me to this moment.鈥�
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute鈥檚 Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press
