'Count me in': Elon Musk pledges $50M for St. Jude US hospital after Inspiration4 success

Following the massive success of SpaceX's recently concluded Inspiration4 mission, an extremely elated Elon Musk chucked his name in for a $50 million donation to aid the St. Jude's Children Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Musk announced this decision on September 19, while replying to a tweet by Inspiration4's official Twitter handle, according to a report by The Guardian. The completion of the first-ever all-civilian space flight is being considered historic in regards to commercial space travel. 

'Count me in', says Musk

The billionaire CEO Musk also stepped in to donate to the children's hospital, the very reason why the entire space flight was constructed. Musk wrote, "Count me in for $50M" in response to an Inspiration4 tweet that welcomed the four crew members and urged for support in raising $200 million for the cause. Notably, another billionaire entrepreneur and pilot, Jared Issacman, one of the crew members, has also pledged $100 million alone for the hospital.

The historic flight

The flight is being considered fairly significant as it achieved several milestones in three days of the mission. Hayley Arceneaux, a health worker and one of the two women of the crew, became the youngest American to visit space (29 years old) and also the first human with a prosthetic leg. Besides, the new all-civilian space flight also etched its name in history as the longest flight for humans while being 580 kilometres above the Earth at a travelling speed of 7.6 kilometres per second. The crew also consisted of two other members including a Black female astronaut Dr Sian Proctor and a data engineer Chris Sembroski, who secured a seat aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon via a lottery organised by Issacman. 

Charity to raise $200 million

SpaceX and the astronauts chose each other with a common aim to benefit the St. Jude Children's Hospital in US' Tennessee, with donations being generated via the capital. Interestingly, the payload sent to the orbital under this mission will also be auctioned to raise money. The payload reportedly included the first-ever minted Non-fungible token (NFT) song created by the rock band 'Kings of Leon', titled 'Time in Disguise'. Besides, the astronauts also carried a customised Ukulele, an edition of TIME magazine along with a stuffed replica of a puppy, as a tribute to the dogs at the St. Jude Children's Hospital. Reportedly, all these items will be auctioned and the money raised will be directed to the hospital. 

Image: Twitter/@GETSTOX