A billionaire is raffling off a SpaceX flight to fund cancer research, leading the world's first all-civilian trip to space

If civilization can journey among the stars, we better have conquered childhood cancer along the way. - Jared Isaacman

Jared Isaacman, the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, has chartered a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule for a 3-4 day trip to the International Space Station in October. Marking the world's first all-civilian trip to space, the 4-seater mission, dubbed Inspiration4, will be led by Isaacman, who is an accomplished pilot.

He will donate a seat to a worker at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. Another seat will be given away in a raffle (only open to legal US residents) that aims to raise $200M for the hospital. The fourth seat will be for the winner of an entrepreneurial contest organized by Shift4, a payments processing company. Isaacman will also donate $100M to charity.