Florida man wins free flight into space, but due to extra weight he had to give the ticket to a friend

A Florida man won a space flight from SpaceX, but gave the lucky ticket to his friend. Writes about it NBC News.

Photo: Shutterstock

He told his family and several friends about it, hinted at a couple of colleagues. So hardly anyone knew he was supposed to be on board when SpaceX launched its first tourists into orbit in 2021.

Kyle Hippchen is a true first-of-its-kind lottery winner who lost out to his college roommate.

Although Hippchen's secret is finally out, it doesn't make him feel any better, as he missed his chance to orbit the Earth because he was over the weight limit.

“It hurts too much,” he said. - I'm incredibly disappointed. But it is what it is.”

Hippchen, 43, a pilot for regional carrier Delta Endeavor Air, recently shared his story on his first visit to NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

On the subject: Elon Musk gave a personal tour of SpaceX for the descendants of the Soviet rocket designer

Kyle spoke about his unexpected dream come true and his disappointment when he realized he had exceeded SpaceX's 250 lb (113 kg) weight limit. As a result, he happened to hand over the ticket to the only person he knew would cherish the flight as much as he did. Four months later, it can already be said that less than 50 people know who the real winner is.

"It was their show and I didn't want to be distracted from what they were doing," said Hippchen, who watched the rocket launch from a VIP balcony.

His place went to 42-year-old Chris Sembrosky, a data engineer from Everett, Washington. They lived together in the late 1990s while attending Embry-Riddle Aviation University. They got into cars with other astronaut students and made the hour-long drive south to launch NASA shuttles. The friends were part of a space advocacy group and traveled to Washington to promote commercial space travel.

Although they lived on opposite coasts, Hippchen and Sembroski continued to communicate. Neither could resist when Shift4 Payments founder and CEO Jared Isaacman raffled off a seat on a flight he bought from SpaceX's Elon Musk.

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Hippchen bought $600 worth of tickets. Sembrosky, who was about to take a new job at Lockheed Martin, spent $50. With 72 participants in the random draw last February, none of them thought they were going to win and didn't bother to tell the other.

By early March, Hippchen began receiving vague emails asking for details about himself. It was then that he read the fine print of the competition: the winner must be under 6 feet 6 inches (198 cm) and weigh up to 250 pounds (113 kg).

Hippchen was 5 feet 10 inches (178 cm) tall but weighed 330 pounds (150 kg).

Kyle told the organizers that he would not participate, believing he was just one of many finalists. And he was stunned when he found out that he had won.

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