Christopher Sembroski (born August 28, 1979) is an American data engineer, Air Force veteran, and

commercial astronaut A commercial astronaut is a person who has commanded, piloted, or served as an active crew member of a privately-funded spacecraft. This is distinct from an otherwise non-government astronaut, for example Charlie Walker, who flies while represe ...

. He flew to orbit on

Inspiration4 Inspiration4 (stylized as Inspirati④n) was a 2021 human spaceflight operated by SpaceX on behalf of Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman. The mission launched the Crew Dragon Crew Dragon Resilience, ''Resilience'' on 16 September 2021 at 00:02: ...

, a

private spaceflight Private spaceflight is any spaceflight development that is not conducted by a government agency, such as NASA or ESA. During the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pionee ...

funded by billionaire

Jared Isaacman Jared Taylor Isaacman (born February 11, 1983) is an American billionaire entrepreneur, pilot, and commercial astronaut. He is the founder and Executive Chairman of Shift4, Shift4 Payments, a payment processor, and the founder of Draken Internati ...

. Sembroski is a

Blue Origin Blue Origin Enterprises, L.P. is an American space technology company headquartered in Kent, Washington. The company operates the suborbital New Shepard rocket and the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. In addition to producing engines for its own ...

employee and was a crew member on the

mission. The spaceflight position was given to Sembroski by his friend Kyle Hippchen, as he was unable to accept the prize because he exceeded the weight limit of the Dragon vehicle. Sembroski has long had an interest in space, being an amateur astronomer and rocketeer. Sembroski received the call sign "Hanks" during training. He is featured on the cover of a ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine double issue with the rest of the crew of Inspiration4 in August 2021.

Career

Sembroski grew up in

Kannapolis, North Carolina Kannapolis () is a city in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, Cabarrus and Rowan County, North Carolina, Rowan Counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord, North Carolina, Concord and northeast of Charlotte, North Carolina, ...

. During college, Sembroski volunteered for ProSpace, a nonprofit organization advocating for private spaceflight. Sembroski also was a counselor at Space Camp in

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...

which promotes science, technology, engineering, and math to children and teenagers. After college, Sembroski joined the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

as an Electro-Mechanical Technician stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, MT. Sembroski worked as a data engineer for

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

. He has since moved to work as an avionics engineer at

. He is a member of the

Association of Space Explorers Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

.List of members of the ASE from United States
/ref>

References

External links

* SpaceFacts.de

Inspiration4 Crew Page
* 1979 births Living people North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics alumni Space tourists United States Air Force airmen Inspiration4 {{Washington-bio-stub