Famed Billionaire Space Explorer to Receive National Space Society’s Space Pioneer Award
The National Space Society is proud to present famed space explorer and entrepreneur Jared Isaacman at its annual ISDC®, the International Space Development Conference, which will be held on May 25-28, 2023.
Isaacman was the prime mover behind the Inspiration4 orbital flight aboard a SpaceX Dragon Capsule in 2021. Founder of the successful Shift4 Payments company, he is a life-long space enthusiast and dedicated the Inspiration4 flight to the nonprofit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The other participants in the flight were selected from St. Jude’s staff and by a national lottery, and included St. Jude employee Haley Arceneaux, data engineer Chris Sembroski, and mission pilot Sian Proctor. It was the first-ever commercial spaceflight completed entirely by private astronauts.
“NSS is pleased to present the Space Pioneer Award to Jared, who has demonstrated not just his strong desire to expand the boundaries of private spaceflight, but to do so with a mission of philanthropy at its core,” said Anita Gale, CEO of NSS. “His ongoing efforts with the Polaris Dawn program are an inspiration to the entire industry and the world.”
Isaacman will receive the National Space Society’s coveted Space Pioneer Award and will keynote at the ISDC along with former NASA astronaut Bonnie Dunbar, newspace entrepreneur Dylan Taylor, best-selling science fiction author Dan Suarez (author of Critical Mass and Delta-V), and a variety of other high-profile speakers. The conference also features five days of other visionaries and movers in newspace and space exploration, including dozens of speakers on topics ranging from the human settlement of space, planetary exploration, space infrastructure, space health, and many more.
Isaacman is the CEO of Shift4 Payments (NYSE: FOUR), a leader in integrated payment processing solutions. He is also an accomplished pilot with over 7,000 flight hours of aviation experience, including ratings in multiple experimental and ex-military aircraft. His newest private space initiative, the Polaris Dawn program, comprises a series of four more private space missions that will fly aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Starship spacecraft.
Isaacman holds several world records including two speed-around-the-world flights in 2008 and 2009 that raised money and awareness for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. He has flown in over 100 airshows as part of the Black Diamond Jet Team, dedicating every performance to charitable causes.
Join Isaacman and dozens of other top space professionals at the International Space Development Conference in Frisco, Texas, in May 2023. The conference will be held at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Dallas Frisco Hotel & Convention Center near Dallas-Fort Worth. More information can be found at the ISDC website.
