Elon Musk's SpaceX is promising to launch four civilians into orbit by next year, an ambitious goal that would mark the first commercial crew launch if completed successfully.
Billionaire Jared Isaacman, CEO of Pennsylvania-based payment technology firm Shift4 Payments Inc., is financing the trip, chartering the Dragon rocket and donating three seats. The remaining three people joining Isaacman will be announced in coming weeks, SpaceX said Monday.
<p>The launch is nicknamed Inspiration4 and is a charitable effort to raise money for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Isaacman said he will give two of the seats to St. Jude including an "ambassador with direct ties to the mission" from the hospital. </p><p>There isn't a clear destination for the trip; SpaceX has just said it will launch into low earth orbit and remain there for several days. Musk definitely has his sights on interplanetary travel, though; he's been open about lofty desires to <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/elon-musk-swears-hell-send-140700880.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">get people to Mars by 2026</a>.</p><p>The Hawthorne-based aerospace firm is targeting "no earlier than the fourth quarter of this year" to send private citizens into space from its outpost at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. </p><p>To be considered for one of the remaining two seats, passengers must either donate to St. Jude's or open a business profile with Shift4 Payments' ecommerce site and share their entrepreneurial story to a panel of celebrity judges, who will decide the winner. Official crew selection will happen Feb. 28, <a href="https://inspiration4.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">according to the mission's website</a>. </p><p>"Inspiration4 is the realization of a lifelong dream and a step towards a future in which anyone can venture out and explore the stars," Isaacman said in a statement. "I appreciate the tremendous responsibility that comes with commanding this mission and I want to use this historic moment to inspire humanity while helping to tackle childhood cancer here on Earth."</p><p>SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 rockets are designed for industrial missions -- like launching satellites or <a data-linked-post="2646132968" href="https://dot.la/light-this-candle-spacex-sends-nasa-astronauts-on-historic-trip-to-space-station-2646132968.html" target="_blank">carrying NASA astronauts</a> to the International Space Station. In May, the Crew Dragon flew a crew to the ISS from U.S. soil for the first time since 2011. The spaceship will now also be used for commercial trips.</p><p>"The Inspiration4 crew will receive commercial astronaut training by SpaceX on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft, orbital mechanics, operating in microgravity, zero gravity and other forms of stress testing," SpaceX stated, adding that the crew members will also be trained to handle outer space emergencies, entering and exiting the spacecraft, and be given mission simulations prior to going to space. </p><p>It's unclear how much each seat on the Inspiration4 mission cost Isaacman, but the cost of a non-NASA seat aboard the Crew Dragon is estimated to cost somewhere <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/spacex-announces-plans-for-first-all-civilian-space-flight/ar-BB1dinKO" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">in the ballpark of $55 million.</a> </p>Boeing is also working on similar technology -- in 2014 Boeing and SpaceX began working to develop independent space taxis with <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boeing-spacex-to-team-with-nasa-on-space-taxi/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a shared $6.8 billion grant</a> from NASA. SpaceX and Boeing have both developed crew capsules and Boeing's first crewed Starliner rocket launch is <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/technology/boeing-targets-a-march-25-launch-for-next-starliner-test-flight-for-nasa/ar-BB1d6Mor" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">expected later this year</a>. Though both companies' commercial crew projects were funded by the government, they are free to also launch private missions.
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A federal judge wants SpaceX to explain next week how it will defend its decision to block a federal subpoena of hiring documents.
Judge Michael Wilner of the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California has set a video conference hearing with lawyers for both sides on Feb. 8.
He said, in court documents, he will likely cover "how SpaceX plans to prove that compliance with the subpoena would be unduly burdensome for the company."
<p>"I'd like to explore that topic (and probably others) with the parties before formal briefing begins," he wrote. </p><p>Last week, the DOJ <a href="https://dot.la/spacex-discrimination-2650178808.html" target="_self">asked an L.A. federal judge</a> to order SpaceX to hand over Form 9 documents, which reveal employee citizenship status. The inquiry began with a complaint filed in May 2020 by a non-U.S. citizen, Fabien Hutter, who said SpaceX discriminated against him during a job interview.</p><p>The Hawthorne-based company valued at $60 billion had been ignoring subpoenas from the DOJ to release that information. SpaceX said the order fell beyond the purview of the DOJ's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section, but its request to revoke the subpoena was denied. </p><p>The Form 9 documents — federal lawyers argue — could show whether SpaceX demonstrates a pattern of not hiring U.S. citizens based on their citizenship status. </p><p>In his order, Wilner said that he is willing to discuss "other potential ways to resolve the action short of full-on legislation." </p><p>He also suggested both parties read his analysis from an "analogous (though clearly distinguishable) subpoena" in 2018 to a janitorial services company accused of sex discrimination and retaliation against three female employees. </p><p>He ruled in the case that a subpoena was relevant to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's investigation into "a broader pattern of misconduct at the company, including actions at another California job site, that may warrant a broader investigation." </p><p>"It also is expressly investigating class-based allegations," Wilner wrote. "This renders contact information about other employees relevant to the matter." </p>
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The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into whether Elon Musk's SpaceX discriminates based on citizenship status, according to court documents filed Thursday.
The DOJ is asking a federal judge in Los Angeles to order SpaceX to turn over Form 9 documents, which show an employee's citizenship status, within two weeks. It comes after the rocketship maker ignored the DOJ's subpoenas filed for the documents last year.
<p>The forms could "demonstrate, among other things, the extent to which SpaceX hires non-U.S. citizens and may reveal whether or not it is engaging in a pattern of not hiring them due to their citizenship status," federal lawyers argued in court filings.</p><p>The inquiry was prompted by a complaint filed with the DOJ's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section, or IER, in May of 2020 from a non-U.S. citizen. He alleged that during his interview for a technology strategy associate job, SpaceX "made inquiries about his citizenship status and ultimately failed to hire him for the position because he is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident," DOJ attorney Lisa Sandoval wrote.<br/><span></span></p><p>Neither SpaceX nor the Department of Justice responded immediately for comment. </p><p>The company, run by the South African-born billionaire, reportedly hit a $60 billion valuation this week <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spacex-funding/spacex-valuation-to-hit-at-least-60-billion-in-new-funding-round-business-insider-idUSKBN29X2XD" target="_blank"><u>after a new round of funding</u></a>. Musk, the world's richest man, has been at the center of the GameStop controversy after <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/26/gamestop-jumps-as-elon-musk-tweets-out-reddit-board-thats-hyping-stock.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>he tweeted a link to the Reddit forum</u></a> with the word "Gamestonk!!"</p><p>The IER said it notified Hawthorne-based SpaceX of the open investigation and requested any documents and information related to its hiring processes. After a series of extensions, the company returned a spreadsheet with Form-9 data collected since June 2019.</p><p>But Sandoval wrote that the company failed to disclose the requested Form 9 documentation, including copies of employees' passports, driver's licenses or Social Security cards.</p><p>"Indeed, it is hard to imagine information more relevant to an unfair documentary practices investigation (which typically involves an employer asking new hires for more documents than necessary to complete the Form I-9 due to their citizenship status) than the Form I-9 supporting documentation of recent hires," she added.</p><p>The IER obtained a subpoena on Oct. 7, 2020 but SpaceX did not comply.</p><p>Weeks later, SpaceX filed a petition to revoke the subpoena — on the basis that it fell beyond the scope of the IER's authority — but the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1343346/download" target="_blank"><u>request was denied</u></a>. The company said it "does not intend to produce any additional information in response to the administrative subpoena," according to court documents. </p><p>Meanwhile, the DOJ claims that SpaceX "cannot demonstrate that it (the subpoena) is either overbroad or unduly burdensome."</p>
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