Who are the other crew members?
Hayley Arceneaux, 29, is a medical assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. Almost two decades ago, Ms. Arceneaux, who grew up in the small town of St. Francisville, LA, was a patient in St. Jude when she was diagnosed with bone cancer in her left leg, just above the knee. Ms. Arceneaux underwent chemotherapy and surgery to install prosthetic legs.
Ms. Arceneaux could become the youngest American woman to ever travel to orbit. She will also be the first person to fly into space wearing a prosthetic body. She will be the health officer for the mission.
Sian Proctor, 51, is a community college professor from Tempe, Arizona.
Dr. Proctor, who has a PhD in science education, was among 47 finalists NASA selected for an astronaut course in 2009. The space agency selected nine new astronauts that year, but Dr. Proctor wasn’t one of them.
She will be the pilot of the Inspiration4 mission and the first black woman to serve as a spaceship pilot.
Christopher Sembroski, 42, from Everett, Washington, works in data engineering for Lockheed Martin. During his studies, Mr. Sembroski worked as a consultant in the Space Camp. He will be the mission specialist for Inspiration4.
How do they get into orbit?
The four crew members of Inspiration4 will be in a SpaceX-built Crew Dragon capsule. The capsule will launch on one of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets.
It’s the exact same system used to get NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. In fact, the capsule they travel in, called Resilience, was used for a NASA mission that launched last November. It returned to Earth in May and was renovated for the Inspiration4 mission.
