CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. -- He told his family and a few friends. He dropped hints to a couple of colleagues. So hardly anyone knew that the airline pilot could have -- should have -- been on board when SpaceX launched its first tourists into orbit last year.
He opened up about his out-of-the-blue, dream-come-true windfall, the letdown when he realized he topped SpaceX's weight restrictions of 250 pounds and his offer to the one person he knew would treasure the flight as much as himself. Four months later, he figures probably fewer than 50 people know he was the actual winner.
Despite living on opposite coasts, Hippchen and Sembroski continued to swap space news and champion the cause. Neither could resist when Shift4 Payments founder and CEO Jared Isaacman raffled off a seat on the flight he purchased from SpaceX's Elon Musk. The beneficiary was St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
With a September launch planned, the timeline was tight. Still new at flying people, SpaceX needed to start measuring its first private passengers for their custom-fitted flight suits and capsule seats. As an aerospace engineer and pilot, Hippchen knew the weight limit was a safety issue involving the seats, and could not be exceeded.
Hippchen joined them in April to watch SpaceX launch astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA, the company's last crew flight before their own.
You mean 'man too fat to go to space, gives trip that he won to a friend because whattayagonnado'.
Space is fake
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