MORE HUGE JARED NEWS:
December 4, 2024 – It was just announced that President-Elect Donald J. Trump has tagged Jared Isaacman to head NASA. Read more…..
HUGE UPDATE:
September 12, 2024—Tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman conducted the first private spacewalk with SpaceX, marking a significant milestone in space exploration. The mission, part of the Polaris Dawn program, tested new spacesuits and involved extensive training. Isaacman and his crew launched from Florida and orbited 460 miles above Earth, demonstrating the potential for future private space missions.
Polaris Dawn will return to Earth no later than Sept. 16, 2024. The vehicle’s crew would have only about five or six days of life support. That would mean the return to Earth could occur in the early hours of Sunday or Monday morning. Splashdown can occur at any of seven potential locations off Florida’s East and West coasts.
Isaacman bankrolled the Polaris Dawn mission, launching him and three others into space aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship. Time magazine estimated that Mr Isaacman paid $200m (£153m) to fellow billionaire Elon Musk for all four seats aboard the SpaceX craft.
SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn crew is home, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico to cap off a five-day mission to orbit, including the world’s first commercial spacewalk. The Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts landed off the coast of Dry Tortugas, Florida, at 3:37 a.m. ET Sunday.
Watch the landing here:
Streaming on YouTube live right now! Started at 3:12 am EDT (Two streams available below).
“It’s a dream come true.”
Jared Isaacman
Jared’s call sign is “EV 1” for the Polaris Dawn SpaceX mission.
As with all Mr. Local History retrospectives, we often update the post when we learn stories and are sent photos from our community. We will continue to grow this piece as information becomes available. If you have a comment, feel free to post at the bottom of this page.
Mr. Local History Project
Yes, a billionaire Basking Ridge high school dropout went to outer space!!!!! Do we have your attention yet? The history of Jared Isaacman dropping out of Ridge High School more than 20 years ago to pursue a successful career in business is not your typical dropout story.
Inspiration 4 launched on Wednesday, September 15, 2021, at 8:02 p.m. EDT and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean Saturday evening, September 18, 2021, off the coast of Florida, at 7:06 p.m. EDT.
SpaceX’s webcast for the return of Dragon and the Inspiration4 crew will go live about 1 hour before splashdown. We’ll have it right here starting at 6 pm EDT. See the live feed below – but we ask you to Donate first!!!!!!
The crew is spending three days in orbit and will view 15 sunrises/sunsets before returning to Earth on Saturday evening, September 18, 2021. Haley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor, and Chris Sembroski join Jared. Netflix also hosted a special “Countdown to Launch” event with astronauts and celebrities. You can see a replay of that webcast on Netflix’s YouTube page.
Isaacman chose four mission pillars — leadership, hope, prosperity, and generosity — “to assemble a very inspiring crew, who all have so many amazing qualities and contribute so many interesting firsts of this mission. I want there to be kindergartners who grow up like me and want to become astronauts, except that I’d like them to have a really good chance of [that] being able to happen.
Jared Isaacman about the mission.
Jared Isaacman (now living in Allentown), announced on Monday, Feb. 1, 2021, that he had bought an entire Space X commercial flight called Inspiration 4. In it, he and three other specially selected civilians will orbit the earth and raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The launch is set for September 15, 2021, from NASA’s Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The St. Jude’s Hospital will be the primary benefactor for Jared Isaacman’s civilian space flight. In fact, he noted that the connection to St. Jude will be a defining theme of his flight. “I’ve been very lucky in life; you really don’t get to a position that I’m fortunate enough to be in without the ball bouncing your way a couple of times,” he said. “These families [at St. Jude] were dealt horrible hands. They’re going through what no one should ever have to go through. It’s immense heartache, and the sad part is many of those kids will not grow up to any of the experiences I’ve been lucky enough to have. We’ve just got to do something about that.”
Jared wasn’t what you call a “traditional high school dropout.” Jared chose to leave school. Jared says he has always dreamed about going into space, and he feels fortunate to be at the helm of the Inspiration4 private mission to Earth orbit that SpaceX will launch late this year. Isaacman caught the space bug as a kid in Westfield, New Jersey, a state home to astronauts ranging from moonwalker Buzz Aldrin to the twin space station astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly. He recalls being in kindergarten at Wilson Elementary School, looking at high-resolution picture books of the space shuttle.
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“I remember being in the school library at Wilson Elementary School in Westfield, New Jersey, looking at books of the space shuttle. I remember telling my kindergarten teacher that someday I’m going to space and she told me she’d be watching from her rocking chair.”
Jared Isaacman
“Who hasn’t imagined themselves cruising around in Star Wars X-wing?” Isaacman said, referring to a famous “Star Wars” ship piloted by hero Luke Skywalker, among others. “I do believe that that’s a world that we’re all going to live in at some point, but it might be a little bit down the road.”
Netflix will air the final episode of the three-part series on September 30, 2021. According to Netflix, “The final episode, which premieres just days after the mission is completed, will feature unprecedented access inside the spacecraft, capturing the launch and the crew.”
You can watch a video sequentially by clicking PLAY or selecting it from the Playlist button at the video window’s top right.
When Isaacman got the chance to buy four seats aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule for the Inspiration4 mission, he decided to be “really thoughtful” about picking the three people who would go with him. Recently, it was announced that Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, would join him. Arceneaux is a childhood survivor of bone cancer and was treated at St. Jude when she was 10 years old.
Mr. Isaacman and his passengers will be the first to orbit the planet without the presence of a professional astronaut from NASA or another space agency. There are no more empty seats on Inspiration4, but there are still plenty of ways to get involved. As they count down to this historic mission, be part of the excitement and help us meet our fundraising goal.
Two seats were made available through separate contests on the Inspiration4 website. One seat, named for “Generosity,” was awarded from a draw from people who donated to St. Jude. The second seat, “Prosperity,” was awarded by a set of entrepreneurs who showcased their business ideas on the Shift4Shop e-commerce platform; Isaacman is the CEO of Shift4Shop. Dr. Sian Proctor, who is African-American and holds a doctorate in science education, got on board by winning that contest.
Christopher Sembroski said he thought he donated $50 but did not win the sweepstakes, which helped raise $13 million for St. Jude. A friend, though, ended up winning—an old college buddy from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. The friend, who remains anonymous, decided not to go to space but, knowing about Mr. Sembroski’s enthusiasm, transferred the prize to him.
Isaacman will bring his crew into the mountains. “It will get us all super uncomfortable and [in] close quarters and hopefully in snowy conditions because I definitely want to make sure we all get along well under those circumstances here on Earth before we go off in space together,” he said.
Isaacman said he’s proud to fly on a SpaceX Crew Dragon for this mission because he believes Elon Musk’s company “reinvigorated the world’s interest in space” following the end of the space shuttle program in 2011. The shuttle ferried hundreds of astronauts to space between 1981 and its 2011 retirement. After that, the next crewed mission to Earth orbit that launched from the United States was SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission in May 2020.
The capsule and its occupants will circle Earth at an altitude of 335 miles, about 80 miles higher than the orbit of the International Space Station. The launch date, initially planned for October, was launched September 15, 2021.
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Great story. Very inspirational for sure.
Good journey and may the force be with you
Wow.