Billionaire names members of first all-civilian crew for SpaceX mission benefiting St. Jude

After a months-long online competition, the final two crew members for the “world’s first all-civilian” rocket mission can start packing their bags and prepping their flight suits.

Joining the Inspiration4 mission are Sian Proctor, a geoscientist and communications specialist, and Christopher Sembroski, a Lockheed Martin employee and U.S. Air Force veteran, The New York Times reported.

The latest additions, announced Tuesday, round out the crew that will orbit Earth no earlier than Sept. 15 in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, commanded by Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments and the mission’s benefactor, CNBC reported.

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Hayley Arceneaux, a cancer survivor and physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital who will serve as the Inspiration4′s medical officer, was announced in February as the flight crew’s first member, the network confirmed.

The mission is raising support for St. Jude’s, with $113 million contributed to date.

Proctor, who will serve as the mission’s pilot, was the winning entrant of an online business competition through Isaacman’s Shift4Shop, while Sembroski, who will serve as a mission specialist, was selected from among nearly 72,000 St. Jude supporters.

“This opportunity is proof that hard work and perseverance can pay off in unimaginable ways,” Proctor said in a prepared statement. “I have always believed that I was preparing for something special, and that moment has arrived with Inspiration4.”

Meanwhile, Sembroski marveled at the perfect intersection of his professional pursuits, personal passions and philanthropic efforts.

“Although I’ve 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,” Sembroski, who will help manage payloads and science experiments during the flight, said in a prepared statement.

According to CNBC, the crew of four will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket aboard the company’s Crew Dragon capsule into a roughly three-day orbit around Earth.

Click here and here to learn more about the all-civilian crew.

Cox Media Group