Hayley Arceneaux: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital physician assistant and SpaceX, Inspiration4 Astronaut!

Hayley Arceneaux is a St. Jude Children's Research Hospital physician assistant, a career she committed to at age ten, after surviving pediatric bone cancer. She is also now a member of the SpaceX medical team, where she helps medically train commercial astronauts. She joined SpaceX's first private spaceflight, Inspiration4, on September 15, 2021, and successfully water-landed three days later. At age twenty-nine, she became the youngest American to orbit the earth, the first pediatric cancer survivor in space, and the first astronaut with a prosthetic body part.

In this episode, Ben and Hayley discuss how Hayley had to keep the fact she was going to space a secret, the overview effect, how she never got claustrophobic on Crew Dragon and her new memoir, WILD RIDE: A Memoir of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships.

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OUTLINE:

Here’s approximate timestamps for the episode.

00:00 Episode 50

00:49 This weeks sponsor - Spaced Ventures

01:40 Hayley Arceneaux

02:30 How Hayley found out she was going to space

04:15 Keeping the secret

05:00 Reaction to space news

05:34 Hayley’s journey through fighting cancer

09:00 Does Hayley feel the pressure being an inspiration?

10:34 Thoughts around free health care

12:42 The overview effect - reaction to seeing the

15:10 What was it actually like on Crew Dragon?

17:15 How was sleeping on board?

19:15 Responsibilities on board

20:55 Inspiring the next generation

22:36 Landing at sea

25:06 Hayley’s Motivation for writing her book  

27:26 What Hayley learnt about herself

29:00 Hayley’s plans for the future

30:00 Audio book

31:37 Wrap up and socials

Buy “WILD RIDE” on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Ride-Memoir-Drips-Rocket-ebook/dp/B09S3J4DJT

Buy “Wild Ride” on Penguin: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/712670/wild-ride-by-hayley-arceneaux/?pdivflag#

Follow Hayley:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArceneauxHayley

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hayleyarc/

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