Sembroski who works as an engineer with Lockheed Martin in Everett, Washington was one of 72,000 people to enter a contest for the spot by donating to St. Jude Children s Research Hospital, based in Memphis, Tennessee. Initially, a college buddy who s remaining anonymous won the drawing, but couldn t go and asked that Sembroski take his place.
The other members of the crew include Hayley Arceneaux, a 29-year-old physician assistant at St. Jude and a childhood cancer survivor, and Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old geology, sustainability and planetary science professor at South Mountain Community College.
Combining cancer fight with space flight
Isaacman has pledged to match up to $100 million for St. Jude as part of his mission, dubbed Inspiration4.
Arizona Republic
From the moment she was born in 1970, Sian Proctor was exposed to the highest levels of scientific research and exploration.
It was all thanks to her dad.
Edward Langley Proctor Jr. was a senior computer engineering technician for NASA s Apollo space program on the Pacific island of Guam from 1966 to 1970. With her father as her role model and early encouragement from both of her parents, including her mother Gloria, it was no surprise that Proctor grew up with a passion for all types of science.
The STEM fields, however, were not exactly welcoming to women at the time, much less women of color. But with the tenacity instilled in her by her parents, Proctor did not turn away.