{"id":524,"date":"2022-03-02T15:23:21","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T15:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/02\/billionaire-who-flew-to-orbit-with-spacex-buys-three-new-missions-to-space\/"},"modified":"2022-03-02T15:23:22","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T15:23:22","slug":"billionaire-who-flew-to-orbit-with-spacex-buys-three-new-missions-to-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/02\/billionaire-who-flew-to-orbit-with-spacex-buys-three-new-missions-to-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Billionaire who flew to orbit with SpaceX buys three new missions to space"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/2\/14\/22932157\/spacex-jared-isaacman-crew-dragon-starship-deep-space<\/a>
\n
<\/br><\/code><\/p>\n

\n

Jared Isaacman, the billionaire who flew to Earth orbit on SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon capsule last year, plans to fly with SpaceX again. Today, Isaacman announced that he\u2019s purchased three additional upcoming flights with SpaceX, a series of missions called \u201cPolaris\u201d<\/a> that would take him deeper into space on the company\u2019s spacecraft.<\/p>\n

Isaacman, who made his fortune through his payment processing company Shift4 Payments, made headlines last year when he bankrolled an entire SpaceX Crew Dragon passenger mission<\/a> in September, dubbed Inspiration4. He filled the three remaining seats on the vehicle with other civilian astronauts, including a childhood cancer survivor, an engineer, and a professor. The quartet all trained and eventually flew to orbit together<\/a> on a three-day trip while raising money for St. Jude Children\u2019s Research Hospital.<\/p>\n

Now, it looks like Isaacman plans to recreate his Inspiration4 mission multiple times over and on increasingly grander scales. The three flights he\u2019s bought include two missions on SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon that would fly to super-high orbits around Earth \u2014 building block missions that would eventually lead to the first crewed flight on the company\u2019s massive new Starship rocket. On the first Crew Dragon trip, called Polaris Dawn, Isaacman plans to fly again. He\u2019s filling the remaining seats with two SpaceX employees, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, as well as Scott \u201cKidd\u201d Poteet, a former Air Force pilot who was the mission director for Inspiration4. And the flight would also serve as another St. Jude fundraising opportunity.<\/p>\n

\n