SpaceX announced Monday (February 1st) that it will launch the first mission to space with an all-civilian crew. The four-person crew will travel on the private company's Dragon spacecraft into orbit around the Earth, with the mission expected to take place towards the end of the year. Leading the crew will be Jared Isaacman, the founder and CEO of payment processing company Shift 4 Payments, who's also a pilot who's flown both commercial and military aircraft. SpaceX didn't reveal how much he paid for the journey. The flight is part of a charity initiative for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and Isaacman will give $100,000 to St. Jude and donate the other three seats in the capsule to people who will be specially selected. One will be a St. Jude ambassador, another seat will be offered to the public as part of a charity drive, and the final spot will go to an entrepreneur, quote, "who utilizes the new Shift4Shop eCommerce platform." The multi-day mission, called Inspiration4, will travel into orbit, circling the Earth once every 90 minutes, before returning in a splashdown off the coast of Florida. Although civilians have been on space flights before, they usually pay to hitch a ride with U.S. astronauts or Russian cosmonauts
So, would you want to be on board??