
Chris Sembroski, the well-suited for space travel private astronaut for the Inspiration4 mission in 2021. His spacesuit is on permanent display at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Image credit: Chris Sembroski
Inspiration4 was the world’s first all-civilian mission to climb into orbit, a four-person crew transported skyward atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The privately-funded commercial mission took place September 16-18, 2021.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon “Resilience” spacecraft was commanded by the well-heeled Jared Isaacman, entrepreneur, founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments. Get familiar with the name as he’s lead spaceman for the upcoming Polaris Dawn mission, a three-flight program all backed and commanded by the tech billionaire.

Artwork depicts the specially outfitted SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with its viewing dome.
Image credit: SpaceX
Raffle for liftoff
On Inspiratio4, Isaacman’s nongovernment crewmates were Sian Proctor, Hayley Arceneaux, and Chris Sembroski. This low-Earth orbit three-day, “tourist-class” expedition was procured by Isaacman, the flight itself and the Dragon spacecraft’s four seats. Two of those seats were donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, used to ignite a highly successful fund-raising and awareness campaign for the hospital.
A raffle was held, in which a seat-hungry entrant was picked, but that winner gave up his place in space to fellow raffle entrant and friend throughout college, Chris Sembroski – and as they say, the rest is history.

Under the dome. Inspiration4 crew’s space selfie. Left to right top, Jared Isaacman, Chris Sembroski, and Sian Proctor with hair-hovering Hayley Arceneaux.
Image credit: Inspiration4 Photos
I caught up with Sembroski last month via video link at a dazzling pre-grand opening event of Home Beyond Earth, an impressive and immersive new exhibition at The Museum of Flight in Seattle.
Go to my new Space.com story –‘Drawn to our planet:’ How spaceflight changed SpaceX Inspiration4 astronaut Chris Sembroski -“Even though I felt physically separated from Earth, I felt more drawn to our planet than I had before – at:
https://www.space.com/spacex-inspiration4-mission-chris-sembroski-interview