spacex-lottery-winner-gave-seat-friend-learning-exceeded-weight-limit

SpaceX Lottery Winner Gave Seat To Friend After Learning He Exceeded the Weight Limit

A SpaceX lottery winner gave his ticket away to a friend after learning he actually exceeded the weight limit.

According to Fox Business, 43-year-old Kyle Hippchen won a sweepstakes from SpaceX this past September. The winner received a free flight. Hippchen ended up giving his ticket to his college roommate, Chris Sembrowski, due to weight restrictions. 

Hippchen shared that he exceeded the 250-pound weight limit. He weighs 330 pounds. “It hurts too much. I’m insanely disappointed. But it is what it is.”

Both Hippchen and Sembrowski jumped at the opportunity to win a ride on one of SpaceX’s flights when Shift4 Payments founder and CEO, Jared Isaacman, announced he was raffling off a seat on the flight that he purchased from Elon Musk. All the proceeds benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Hippchen notably purchased $600 worth of entries before finding out he exceeded the weight limit. 

“I was trying to figure out how I could drop 80 pounds in six months,” Hippchen stated. “Which, I mean, it’s possible. But it’s not the most healthy thing in the world to do.”

Sembroski purchased $50 worth of entries in the SpaceX sweepstakes. Isaacman described Hippchen’s decision as “an incredible act of generosity.” Sembroski will be traveling on the flight with a St. Jude physician assistant who beat cancer as a child. Another passenger on the flight is a community college passenger who won a seat as a Shif4 Payments business client. 

Hippchen will be watching the flight launch from a VIP balcony. Sembroski spoke about the opportunity to travel on the SpaceX flight by adding, “I’m forever grateful.”

SpaceX Postpones Launch For Italian Satellite for the Third Time Due to Weather 

According to MyNews13, SpaceX revealed it was postponing its launch for an Italian Satellite once again. This is the third attempt to launch. The launch was postponed due to the weather. There were cloudy and windy conditions. 

SpaceX shared in a tweet on Saturday (January 29th), “Due to weather in Florida affecting pre-launch operations, now targeting Sunday, January 30 at 6:11 p.m. EST for launch of COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2 from SLC-40.”

SpaceX further reports that the Falcon 9 launch of Starlink from LC-39A shifting to Monday (January 31) and teams are also continuing to work toward the launch of NROL-87 from California on Wednesday (February 2nd).

Italian Space Agency, which is working with SpaceX on the project, revealed in a press release that the launch of the second satellite of the “new generation” will allow Italy to have an even more advanced and unique system for Earth Observation in the world. MyNews13 further explains that the Italian satellites will monitor and watch for weather conditions. This may help predict flooding and coordinate relief efforts in the event of a natural disaster such as fires and earthquakes.