From Patient to Astronaut: St. Jude Unveils Hayley Arceneaux’s Spacesuit

MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--This week, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital^® unveiled the custom-fitted spacesuit worn by St. Jude physician assistant and cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux and the youngest American to orbit Earth.

Arceneaux, who was treated at St. Jude for bone cancer when she was 10, was the chief medical officer on the all-civilian Inspiration4 crew in 2021. At age 29, she became, among other things, the first childhood cancer survivor and the first person with a prosthetic to go to space, becoming a symbol of hope for children facing childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

The spacesuit was created by SpaceX, taking 220 measurements of Arceneaux and took 8 months to make by hand. The suit is on loan from SpaceX and Inspiration4. Arceneaux was able to show off the suit to her family and share a few moments with patients.

“When I wore the suit on launch day, I held a photo from when I was in treatment. If only 10-year-old me could have seen what was to come,” said Arceneaux at the unveiling. “There was only one thing I wanted to do with my spacesuit: give it to the patients it belongs to. I knew there would be kids walking in the door of St. Jude on their very first day, and I wanted them to look at the suit and know that everything would be okay.”

The other three suits from Inspiration4 are also on display. Mission commander Jared Isaacman’s suit is at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Dr. Sian Proctor's suit is at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. Christopher Sembroski's suit is at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

The Inspiration4 mission raised more than $250 million to help St. Jude advance research and treatment to improve outcomes for children across the world.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Its purpose is clear: Finding cures. Saving children.® It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. When St. Jude opened in 1962, childhood cancer was largely considered incurable. Since then, St. Jude has helped push the overall survival rate from 20% to more than 80% in the United States, and it won't stop until no child dies from cancer. St. Jude shares the breakthroughs it makes to help doctors and researchers at local hospitals and cancer centers around the world improve the quality of treatment and care for even more children. Because of generous donors, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food, so they can focus on helping their child live. Visit St. Jude Inspire to discover powerful St. Jude stories of hope, strength, love and kindness. Support the St. Jude mission by donating at stjude.org, liking St. Jude on Facebook, following St. Jude on X, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok, and subscribing to its YouTube channel.