You only have a few days left to try and win a chance to go to space on the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission, which is scheduled to launch to Earth orbit in late 2021.
Until the end of this week, go to the Inspiration4 website to win one of its two final seats, along with billionaire and commander Jared Isaacman and Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee who survived bone cancer and was selected to join the mission as the crew's chief medical officer.
Isaacman donated two more mission seats for the public to come to space with him. Each passenger on the Inspiration4 mission has a code name: Isaacman is "Leadership," Arceneaux is "Hope," and the remaining two seats on the mission will represent "Prosperity" and "Generosity."
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The first opportunity asks contestants to launch a store on the Shift4Shop ecommerce platform — Isaacman is CEO of the company — and to "post your inspirational business story on Twitter" to nab a seat representing Prosperity.
"If you're ever hesitating on starting an e-commerce business, this might be one of the best opportunities to elevate your business to the stars," Isaacman told Space.com about the Prosperity seat, in a video interview.
The second opportunity asks for a donation to St. Jude — a Memphis-based hospital that treats child cancer patients free of charge — to potentially secure the seat representing Generosity. Larger donation amounts will get more entries into the contest. The amounts listed range between $10 for 100 entries) and $5,000 (for 10,000 entries), or you can customize your donation amount. Each tier also receives benefits, such as a mission poster or a vintage T-shirt.
"It's not an auction," Isaacman told Space.com about the Generosity seat. "It's not some rich person who's going to bid $50 million or $60 million for the seat. It's a level playing field right now. So whether you're thinking about making a donation to just an awesome cause in its own right — to St. Jude — go on the mission website. Give it a shot."
The mission is advertised as the first all-private crewed orbital mission and will include no professional astronauts, with SpaceX pioneering the effort by companies to boost space tourism. A handful of well-heeled space tourists have flown into space on government missions, and companies such as Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are working on spacecraft that could one day bring paying customers into suborbit.
The deadline to enter the contest is on Sunday (Feb. 28) at 11:59 p.m. EST (0459 March 1 GMT). You can sign up at inspiration4.com and read the official contest rules here.
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