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A 29-year-old survivor of childhood bone cancer could become one of the youngest to fly into space when she embarks on a private trip aboard a SpaceX rocket.
Hayley Arceneaux, medical assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, will join private space flight Inspiration4 led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, which will launch on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule later this year. The selection of Arceneaux as a “Hope” member of the crew was unveiled today on the Today Show on NBC.
The invitation to join Isaacman’s Inspiration4 team came from St. Jude, the former Arceneaux treatment center.
“It came out of nowhere,” Arceneaux said of St. Jude’s invitation. “Basically they asked me if I wanted to go to space. Immediately I said, ‘Yes, yes! Write my name down. ‘”
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Arceneaux received her treatment in 2002 (when she was 10 years old) and will become the first person with a prosthetic part of the body to go into space, according to the New York Times, as she was given metal rods to replace bone parts in her left leg.
Its flight represents a new opportunity to fly various populations in space, like the normal requirements of NASA astronauts. exclude people with such disabilities. Private flights such as SpaceX’s, however, can open the door for people who might not normally qualify for government flight opportunities.
Inspiration4 flight will be commanded by Isaacman, pilot and billionaire founder of payment processing company Shift4Payments. The mission is expected to launch this fall, SpaceX said.
Isaacman will donate the other three seats; Arceneaux is the first of those announced. A third seat will be awarded to a contributor to the St. Jude fundraiser in a contest, and a fourth seat will be awarded to the winner of an entrepreneur contest sponsored by Isaacman’s Shift4Shop.
You can find out how to enter both contests on the Inspiration4 website here.
Arceneaux continues to help hospital patients today as a medical assistant. She said the positive attitude she cultivated during the difficult phases of treatment will likely help her cope with the challenges of space flight as well.
“I really hope to show [childhood cancer patients] that the sky is not even the limit, “Arceneaux said.” They can do anything. I never thought I could go to space. Really until this mission, you really had to be physically perfect. This mission changes things. To be a cancer survivor in space is an incredible honor. “
As it stands, Arceneaux will be the youngest American to fly in space – beating the first American in space, Sally Ride, two years. (Ride was 31 when she first flew in 1983.) The Soviet Union cosmonaut Gherman Titov holds the record for the youngest space traveler, having flown a month before the age of 26 when he embarked aboard the Soviet spacecraft Vostok 2 in August 1961.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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