Christopher Sembroski and Dr Sian Proctor will join Hayley Arceneaux and Jared Isaacman on the Inspiration4 mission.
Inspiration4, the worlds first all-civilian mission to space, has announced the final two members of the four-person crew that will undertake a historic voyage to the stars later this year. Christopher Sembroski of Everett, WA and Dr Sian Proctor of Tempe, AZ will join previously announced crew member Hayley Arceneaux under the command of Jared Isaacman. SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket will launch the crew aboard a Dragon spacecraft later this year.
Dr Proctor, a 51-year-old entrepreneur, educator, trained pilot and active voice in the space exploration community, was awarded her seat by being selected as the top entrant of an independently judged online business competition that attracted approximately 200 entries.
Dr Proctor said: This opportunity is proof that hard work and perseverance can pay off in unimaginable ways. I have always believed that I was preparing for something special, and that moment has arrived with Inspiration4.
Proctor will serve as the Mission Pilot and back up the commander and support related needs throughout the mission.
Christopher Sembroski, a 41-year-old aerospace industry employee at Lockheed Martin and the United States Air Force veteran, contributed to a special fundraising campaign for St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital that offered an Inspiration4 seat to a lucky donor after receiving nearly 72,000 entries.
Sembroski added: Although Ive been fortunate to have spent years in the aerospace industry, I never imagined having the opportunity to reach the stars, especially through something as simple as supporting St. Jude. I am honoured to occupy the Generosity seat and look forward to using this platform to encourage everyone to be generous to others in whatever ways they are able.
He will serve as the Mission Specialist and will help manage payload, science experiments, communications to mission control and more.
Inspiration4 is completed by the other mission pillars of Leadership, represented by Isaacman, and Hope, represented by Arceneaux. Isaacman, the 38-year-old founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments and a world-record-holding pilot, created the Inspiration4 mission and donated the three crew seats to inspire humanity and raise money for the lifesaving mission of St. Jude. Arceneaux is a 29-year-old physician assistant who works at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis, TN and joined Inspiration4 last month. In addition to working at St. Jude, she was treated as a child for bone cancer at the preeminent care and research hospital and vowed to return to serve others. Arceneaux will serve as Medical Officer overseeing medical care and experiments on the mission.
Isaacman said: Inspiration4s goal is to inspire humanity to support St. Jude here on earth while also seeing new possibilities for human spaceflight. Each of these outstanding crew members embodies the best of humanity, and I am humbled to lead them on this historic and purposeful mission and the adventure of a lifetime.
All crew members will undergo commercial astronaut training by SpaceX on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft. Crew member training will include a specific focus on orbital mechanics, operating in microgravity, zero gravity, and other forms of stress testing. The crew will receive emergency preparedness training, spacesuit and spacecraft ingress and egress exercises, as well as partial- and full-mission simulations.
