\u201cWhile a historic journey awaits us in space, I hope this mission reinforces how far inspiration can take us and the extraordinary achievements it leads to here on Earth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
[Read: How much does it cost to buy, own, and run an EV? It\u2019s not as much as you think<\/span><\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n The 37-year-old founder of transactions processing firm Shift4 Payments is also a pilot who holds a world record for a Speed-Around-The-World flight.<\/p>\n Isaacman said he aims to use the mission to raise $200 million for St Jude\u2019s Children\u2019s Research Hospital.<\/p>\n He hasn\u2019t revealed how much he\u2019s paying for the trip, but has committed $100 million of his own money to the fundraising initiative. He\u2019s also promised to save a seat onboard the Dragon for a randomly-selected donor to the pediatric center.<\/p>\n Joining them on the journey will be a former patient of St Jude\u2019s who\u2019s now a medical worker at the hospital, and a business owner who uses Shift4 Payments. Their names will be announced in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n The mission was named Inspiration4 in recognition of the four-person crew\u2019s efforts to raise funds for the hospital and herald a new era for human spaceflight.<\/p>\n SpaceX said the crew will undergo training on the Dragon and the Falcon 9 launch vehicle on operating in microgravity, zero gravity, and other forms of stress testing:<\/p>\n They will go through emergency preparedness training, spacesuit and spacecraft ingress and egress exercises, as well as partial and full mission simulations.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Musk promised that the voyage isn\u2019t just a joy-ride for the rich.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like when America went to the moon in \u201969. It wasn\u2019t just a few people \u2014 humanity went to the moon,\u201d he told NBC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n SpaceX aims to launch Inspiration4 from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the fourth quarter of this year.<\/p>\n The announcement comes as the space tourism race is heating up: Musk\u2019s fellow billionaires Jeff Bezos<\/a> and Richard Branson<\/a> also plan to take passengers to space this year.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re on Team Space Karen<\/a>, you could try donating to St Jude\u2019s<\/a> for a chance to bag a seat on the Dragon.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/02\/Screenshot-2021-02-02-at-10.27.11.png\")
\n