Inspiration4's Jared Isaacman Makes Big Donation to Space Force Museums

Inspiration4 astronaut and billionaire Jared Isaacman makes the largest private donation in the nonprofit’s 35-year history to the US Space Force Historic Foundation, funding future meticulous restoration of rare artifacts missile-related and other museum improvements in Brevard County.

“This is exciting for the museum, a big step forward in preserving the Cape’s rich history and offering it for many generations to come,” said Jamie Draper, director of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum.

“We’re really excited about this and can’t wait to get to work on these restorations and exhibition projects,” Draper said.

Foundation President Ray Sands declined to disclose the amount of Isaacman’s “incredible” donation. Isaacman is founder and CEO of Shift4, a trade finance company that processes more than $260 billion in global transactions annually.

A jet pilot who co-founded the Black Diamond Jet Team, Isaacman financed and commanded the Inspiration4 mission – the first orbital space flight staffed entirely by civilian astronauts – which made history by launching a SpaceX Dragon capsule in September 2021 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

The three-day spaceflight generated more than $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital — Isaacman has pledged at least $100 million of that. Looking ahead, Isaacman has ordered Polaris Dawn, another SpaceX Falcon 9 launch that will propel a four-person crew in an orbiting Dragon to perform the first-ever spacewalk by a commercial astronaut.

The launch is tentatively scheduled for summer at the earliest. Isaacman will command the mission.

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“I am pleased to be able to support the USSF’s mission to preserve and promote the rich heritage of space development, education and exploration,” Isaacman said in an email regarding his gift to the museum.

A Polaris Dawn spokesperson said Isaacman didn’t have time to speak with him because his schedule “was incredibly tight leading up to launch.”

“He’s an innovator. He’s a pioneer. And he does things like Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – and all these incredible astronauts of the past who were willing to risk their lives to break down barriers existing.” » Sands said.

Subroc, ‘Big Shot Shroud’ to be rebuilt

The U.S. Space Force Historical Foundation supports the construction, maintenance and restoration of approximately 100 rockets, missiles, related equipment and interior exhibits at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum at the Sands Space History Center near Port Canaveral and Hangar C, a former missile assembly building. at the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse where Wernher von Braun is said to have had an office on the second floor.

Draper said Isaacman’s donation will help restore and rebuild:

A Subroc, a Navy submarine-launched guided missile developed in the late 1950s and designed to destroy enemy submarines at long range.

“It was basically a flying torpedo: a solid rocket motor, a nuclear grenade. It’s just a crazy concept and real Cold War technology,” Draper said.

Calling the Subroc a “rare specimen,” he said only a few others exist.

A “great shooting shroud”. This nose cone-shaped casing carried large aluminized plastic balloon satellites atop Thor missiles for high-altitude inflation during NASA’s 1962 Project Echo experimental flights from Launch Complex 17.

Draper said the balloons were ejected and inflated 250 miles above the Earth’s surface, and technicians bounced radio signals off them as NASA’s first communications satellites.

“Very interesting. And we don’t know of any other Big Shot Shrouds in existence. This could be the last of its kind, and we’ve had it on display here since 1968,” he said.

An ARCAS weather rocket launcher.

“Hundreds of them were launched from Cape Town in the 1960s and 1970s. And what they did, before a major space launch or maybe a missile test launch, something like that, They launched dozens of these ARCAS rockets to gather weather data on the upper atmosphere,” Draper said.

Museum officials believe their cannon-like ARCAS launcher is the only one of its type still in existence, he said.

Additionally, Sands said Isaacman’s donation would fund a fourth undisclosed restoration project “that will illuminate a fascinating and previously untold historical story of the Cape.”

Florida environment ‘inhospitable’ for artifacts

Draper said museum officials still have many outdoor static exhibits on the grounds of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum, exposing vintage metal artifacts to “one of the most inhospitable preservation environments in the world.” .

“The intense sun. The intense heat. The intense humidity. Not just a salty ocean breeze, but a highly ionized salty ocean breeze, from what people tell me about corrosion,” Draper said.

“There are also exotic pests. There are tropical storms. There are all kinds of problems to deal with,” he said.

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Draper said a historic restoration contractor would analyze and disassemble the Subroc launcher, Big Shot Shroud and ARCAS, then remove active granular corrosion, replace damaged material, apply a zinc coat, repaint and reassemble for museum display at inside Hangar C.

“The final product is something that looks new off the assembly line in the Cold War era, while retaining as much historical material as possible,” he said.

The Musée des Sables is considering future expansion

Sands said Isaacman’s gift will also add new explanatory exhibits about the Space Force at the Sands Space History Center and a “Pioneering Women in Aerospace” exhibit at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum.

“And then we will also be able to use some of those funds to secure key, unique artifacts from private collections of individuals for the museum,” Sands said.

Formerly titled the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Museum Foundation, Sands said the nonprofit organization relies on charitable donations and gift shop proceeds and receives no funding from the Department of Defense.

Future expansion of the Sands Space History Museum property is under planning and due diligence, he said. More details will be released in the coming weeks.

More:Space Curiosities: NASA and Space Collectors Head to the Museum to Find Rare and Vintage Memorabilia

A Space Florida study unveiled this month outlines a futuristic vision showing a $2.1 billion dock expansion for commercial space ventures extending north from the Port Canaveral Mid Basin. If this ambitious plan becomes a reality, crews are expected to build this dock just west of the Sands Space History Museum grounds, Sands said.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Sands said.

The Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum, which encompasses Launch Complex 26 and adjoining Launch Complex 5/6, and Hangar C are located behind the gates of the military installation. Admission is via certified visits.

The Sands Space History Center, located near the north side of the Port Canaveral Channel at 100 Spaceport Way, just outside the south gate of the Cape Canaveral Space Station. This museum offers free entry and is easily accessible to the general public.

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