Have you ever dreamed of going to space? SpaceX will launch the first all-civilian mission later this year - You can participate to potentially win a seat aboard Crew Dragon! The civilian mission is called Inspiration4, funded by Shift4 Payments founder Jared Isaacman who is donating seats aboard Crew Dragon to the general public to raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. To participate you can donate to St. Jude via Inspiration4.com. The winner will be selected through a raffle on February 28. Isaacman donated $100 million to St. Jude and hopes to fundraise an additional $100 million to help children fight cancer. He shared via Twitter today he will donate more, “I have committed to fund the first $100 million in this effort, but I will match dollar for dollar up to additional $25 million in Izzy Mattocks name to St.Jude above the 200 million. The new goal is a quarter of a billion,” he said. Izzy Mattocks is a 12-year old who has been battling cancer her whole life.

Today is my 38th bday. Thats 26 yrs longer than Izzy Mattocks.She is in FL right now w/ family, trying to find happiness in a life spent fighting cancer. She is having a bday next week. It's not her bday, she just wants one more. https://t.co/VxQTpheNNG

— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) February 11, 2021

I have committed to fund the first $100 million in this effort, but I will match dollar for dollar up to additional $25 million in Izzy Mattocks name to @StJude above the 200 million. The new goal is a quarter of a billion. Donate on https://t.co/t9jHk0K2Na

— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) February 11, 2021

Each Inspiration4 crewmember will represent the best traits of humanity: Leadership, Hope, Generosity, and Prosperity. Isaacman will represent ‘Leadership’ as a skilled pilot and mission commander. “In fulfilling a personal and lifelong dream, I recognize the tremendous responsibility that comes with commanding this mission,” Isaacman stated, “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,” he said. The ‘Generosity’ seat is for an individual from the general public who donates to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The seat representing ‘Hope’ is reserved for a St. Jude’s ambassador who survived childhood cancer and now works at the hospital. Isaacman shared that the employee is a woman –“and I know she's looking forward to the launch as much as me,” he said during a teleconference with reporters. The ‘Prosperity’ seat is reserved for a Shift4Shop entrepreneur who can participate by sharing their business story at Launch Shift4Shop.   

Need some space? 🚀 Donate now and enter for your chance to win a seat on @inspiration4x, the world’s first all-civilian mission to space. #Inspiration4StJude https://t.co/6IvHPCgTAr pic.twitter.com/g55SmTcgHi

— St. Jude (@StJude) February 10, 2021

TIME announced on Thursday, it acquired exclusive rights to create a documentary about the first all-civilian mission to space. TIME Studios partnered with Emmy award-winning marketing firm Known to film the Inspiration4 crew’s once in a lifetime adventure. The documentary will follow the civilian crew as they undergo astronaut training to launch in Autumn this year. They will liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft. Their space voyage will consist of orbiting Earth aboard Dragon for approximately three days. “In these challenging times, it is important to remember that the human capacity for success and ambition may well be limitless. This journey will be a defining moment for space exploration and humanity at large and we are honored to be entrusted with telling the story of Inspiration4,” said the President of TIME Studios Ian Orefice. “We look forward to continuing the tradition that TIME and TIME Studios have established through our shared history of bringing audiences to space with new forms of visual storytelling.” Read more in the TIME article linked below.

TIME Studios Wins Exclusive Documentary Rights to Inspiration4, the World’s First All-Civilian Mission to Space | Time https://t.co/ZFOMXeeDnK

— #TeamTIME (@TeamTime) February 11, 2021

 Featured Image Source: Inspiration4.com / SpaceX