Inspiration4 astronaut and billionaire Jared Isaacman presents the US Space Force Historical Foundation with the largest private donation in the nonprofit’s 35-year history, funding future meticulous restoration of rare rocket artifacts and other museum upgrades in Brevard County.
“This is exciting for the museum, a major step forward in preserving the Cape’s rich history and making it accessible to many generations to come,” said Jamie Draper, director of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum.
“We are just so excited and can’t wait to start working on these restoration and exhibition projects,” Draper said.
Foundation chairman Ray Sands declined to disclose the amount of Isaacman’s “incredible” donation. Isaacman is the founder and CEO of Shift4, a trade finance company that processes over $260 billion in global transactions annually.
Isaacman, a jet pilot and co-founder of the Black Diamond Jet Team, funded and led the Inspiration4 mission – the first all-civilian astronaut orbital spaceflight – which made history when it launched in a SpaceX Dragon capsule from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in September 2021.
The three-day spaceflight raised more than $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Isaacman pledged to match at least $100 million of that. Looking ahead, Isaacman has commissioned Polaris Dawn, another SpaceX Falcon 9 launch that will carry a crew of four into orbit in a Dragon to conduct the first commercial spacewalk by an astronaut.
The launch is expected to take place in summer at the earliest. Isaacman will lead the mission.
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“I am pleased to support the USSF’s mission to preserve and promote the rich heritage of space development, education and exploration,” Isaacman said in an email about his museum donation.
A spokesman for Polaris Dawn said Isaacman didn’t have time for an interview because his schedule was “incredibly tight leading up to launch.”
“He’s an innovator. He’s a pioneer. And he’s doing things like Alan Shepard and John Glenn and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – and all the great astronauts of the past who were willing to risk their lives to break down existing barriers,” Sands said.
Subroc, “Big Shot Shroud”, is rebuilt
The U.S. Space Force Historical Foundation supports the construction, maintenance and restoration of approximately 100 rockets, missiles, related hardware and interior exhibits at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum, the Sands Space History Center near Port Canaveral and Hangar C, a former missile assembly building next to the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse, where Wernher von Braun reportedly had an office on the second floor.
Draper said Isaacman’s donation will restore and rebuild:
- A Subroc, a Navy submarine-launched guided missile developed in the late 1950s and designed to destroy enemy submarines at long range.
“It was essentially a flying torpedo: solid rocket motor, nuclear depth charge. It’s just a wild concept and real Cold War technology,” Draper said.
He called the Subroc a “rare specimen” and said that only a few other specimens were known to exist.
- A “Big Shot Shroud.” This cone-shaped casing carried large balloon satellites made of aluminum-coated plastic on Thor rockets that were inflated at high altitudes from Launch Complex 17 during the experimental flights of NASA’s Project Echo in 1962.
Draper said the balloons were released and inflated 250 miles above Earth’s surface, and technicians became the first NASA communications satellites to reflect radio signals from them.
“Very interesting. And we don’t know of any other Big Shot Shroud that still exists. This could be the last of its kind and we have had it on display here since 1968,” he said.
- An ARCAS weather rocket launcher.
“Hundreds of these were launched from the Cape in the 1960s and 1970s. And what they did was – before a big space launch or maybe a rocket test launch or something like that – they launched dozens of these ARCAS rockets to get weather data in the upper atmosphere to collect,” Draper said.
Museum staff are convinced that the cannon-like ARCAS launcher is the only one of its kind still in existence, he said.
In addition, Sands said Isaacman’s donation will fund a fourth, as-yet-unnamed restoration project “that will bring to light a fascinating, untold historic Cape story.”
Florida’s environment is ‘inhospitable’ to artifacts
Draper said museum management still maintains a number of static outdoor exhibits on the grounds of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum, subjecting the historic metal artifacts to “one of the most inhospitable conservation conditions in the world.”
“The intense sun. The intense heat. High humidity. Not just a salty sea breeze, but a highly ionized salty sea breeze, which is what people tell me about corrosion,” Draper said.
“There are also exotic pests. There are tropical storms. All sorts of problems to contend with,” he said.
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Draper said a contractor specializing in historical restoration will analyze and disassemble the Subroc, Big Shot Shroud and ARCAS launcher system, then remove active grain corrosion, replace damaged material, apply a coat of zinc, repaint and reassemble them for museum display in Hangar C.
“The end product is something that looks new off the Cold War-era assembly line while retaining as much historical material as possible,” he said.
Sands Museum considering future expansion
Sands said Isaacman’s donation will also include new explanatory Space Force exhibits at the Sands Space History Center and a Women Pioneers in Aerospace exhibit at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum.
“And then we can also use some of those funds to secure important, unique artifacts from private collections of individuals for the museum,” Sands said.
Sands said the nonprofit, formerly called the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Museum Foundation, relies on charitable donations and gift shop revenue and receives no funding from the Defense Department.
The future expansion of the Sands Space History Museum site is in the planning and due diligence process, he said. More details will be released in the coming weeks.
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A study from Space Florida unveiled this month presents a futuristic vision that shows a $2.1 billion dock expansion for commercial spaceflight companies extending north from the Middle Turning Basin in Port Canaveral. If that ambitious plan becomes a reality, crews should build that dock west of the Sands Space History Museum site, Sands said.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Sands said.
The Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum, which includes the adjacent Launch Complex 26 and Launch Complex 5/6, as well as Hangar C, are located behind the gates of the military facility. Entry is via certified guided tours.
The Sands Space History Center is located near the north side of the Port Canaveral Canal at 100 Spaceport Way, just outside the south gate of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This museum offers free entry and is easily accessible to the general public.
For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neale is a space reporter for FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale atRneale@floridatoday.comTwitter/X: @RickNeale1
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