HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Billionaire entrepreneur and astronaut Jared Issacman announced Friday he plans to donate $15 million to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (USSRC) to help develop Space Camp facilities.
“Space Camp is a national treasure,” Issacman said.
Issacman has taken an active interest in Space Camp, making appearances and donating $10 million in 2022. He attended Aviation Challenge at the USSRC when he was 12, and he credits that experience with jump-starting his future career.
“There are things that you just can’t get hands on in the classroom or even at home, playing a computer game,” Issacman said. “When I came here in Aviation Challenges, I actually got to fly an airplane at 12 years old. I’m at 8000 hours now flying aircraft, and I mean that was all born out of this experience.”
The $15 million donation will fund the Space Camp activities happening inside the Inspiration4 Skills Training Complex, including simulated space missions to Mars and the moon, a realistic space station mission including onboard operations, and a mission control center.
“The Inspiration4 Skills Training Complex and the Polaris Dawn mission activities will transform Space Camp,” Robin Soprano, the Vice President of Space Camp, said. “Through this extraordinary investment, we are building cutting-edge experiences to take our programs and our students into the future.”
Other features will include an AI-powered mission support specialist, a full-motion interactive Mars and lunar rover, science laboratories, robotics, 3-D printing systems, and holographic displays visualizing planetary environments, spacecraft systems, and mission data.
The training complex is named for the crew of the Insiration4, led by Issacman, which achieved the first all-civilian orbital space mission.
Issacman is a leading figure in commercial spaceflight. Three years after leading the mission to orbit Earth, Issacman returned to space with the crew of Polaris Dawn, which completed the first commercial space walk.
The Inspiration4 Skills Training Complex is set to open for the 2026 summer camp season. After additional fundraising, the USSRC plans to build a fourth dormitory to house Space Camp attendees.
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