[imagesource: SpaceX]

Since space travel became a thing, millions of people have dreamed about that countdown from 10 to lift off.

In January 1968, NASA’s Challenger was ready to carry the first civilian passenger, a school teacher, into space when it exploded, breaking apart 73 seconds after launch.

Since then, the average person couldn’t just jump on a rocket and orbit the earth, but all that is set to change.

Except for the ‘average’ part. You have to be pretty loaded to score a tourist spot on a spaceship…or you need to enter a raffle. More on that later.

In late 2018, SpaceX announced that billionaire Yusaku Maezawa would be the first paying passenger to go on a trip around the moon.

It looks like those hopes were dashed as he is now under investigation for tax fraud.

Not to be deterred, SpaceX has announced that the next contender is billionaire tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman.

Per Space.com, there will be no professional astronauts onboard, and Isaacman is donating the other three seats.

“It will be the first-ever all-private crewed orbital mission in history,” Elon Musk said during a teleconference with reporters yesterday.

Announcing the first commercial astronaut mission to orbit Earth aboard Dragon → https://t.co/MbESvnakAD pic.twitter.com/ukLsjFfRjk

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 1, 2021

Isaacman is an accomplished pilot who will command the four-person Inspiration4 mission aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule (named Resilience), later this year.

“Inspiration4 is the realization of a lifelong dream and a step towards a future in which anyone can venture out and explore the stars,” Isaacman, the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments and an aviation and spaceflight enthusiast since kindergarten, said in a statement.

Inspiration4 is supposed to inspire the masses to help raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

“I appreciate the tremendous responsibility that comes with commanding this mission, and I want to use this historic moment to inspire humanity while helping to tackle childhood cancer here on Earth.”

Two of the three remaining seats on the capsule have been donated to St. Jude. One of those has gone to an employee, and according to Isaacman, “she’s looking forward to the launch as much as me”.

Image: Jared Isaacman, SpaceX

The other St. Jude seat will go to a member of the public via a fundraising raffle that Isaacman hopes raises a total of at least $200 million for the hospital. He has already committed $100 million of his own cash.

If you’re a US citizen and want to throw your hat into the ring, head here.

The fourth seat will go to “a deserving [American] entrepreneur who utilises the new Shift4Shop eCommerce platform”. More on that here.

I feel like they could have opened this up to the world.

I wouldn’t mind a trip into space.

Then again, if I ever get the chance, I’d prefer there to be a professional astronaut with more than a few months of training onboard.

[source:space]