29-year-old cancer survivor set to be youngest American in space
"They basically said, 'Do you want to go to space?'" says 29-year-old Hayley Arceneaux, recounting the moment she was offered a seat on the first all-civilian mission into Earth's orbit. The healthcare worker who survived bone cancer as a child is set to become the youngest American to go to space when she blasts off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Inspiration4 mission. Memphis-based St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where Arceneaux was treated for cancer and now works, got a seat from billionaire Jared Isaacman, who paid for the mission. "I really hope to inspire patients going through cancer treatment and other survivors that anything is possible," Arceneaux says.