From Inspiration4 to inspiration for patients: St Jude displays cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux's flown spacesuit

October 7, 2025

— Hayley Arceneaux gave her patients a sneak peak at the new addition to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, prior to its unveiling on Tuesday afternoon (Oct. 7).

During a ceremony at the Memphis medical center, Arceneaux helped dedicate the display of the spacesuit she wore on board the first all-civilian, privately-funded orbital space mission in 2021. On Inspiration4, Arceneaux became the youngest American to circle Earth and the first person to fly into space with a prosthetic leg bone after surviving cancer.

Now four years later and having returned to work as a physician's assistant at St. Jude — the same hospital where she underwent treatment for osteosarcoma as a child and which benefited from the Inspiration4 crew's charitable activities — Arceneaux launched her SpaceX pressure suit on a new mission of inspiration.

"The suit will be viewed by many different people," said Arceneaux in an interview with collectSPACE. "It will be seen by patients on their first day walking through the doors of St. Jude. I remember when I was in that position, I was terrified. I hope that they can look at the suit and see that they're going to be okay, and that having cancer doesn't have to limit their dreams."

"Parents and caregivers will see the suit, and I hope it gives them hope for their children's future and thinking about life after cancer," she said. "And our St. Jude staff and researchers are going to be seeing the suit, too, and I hope that it continues to ignite their passion for everything that they do to help these kids with cancer live full lives."

The white suit with its gray and black accents stands in the case, backdropped by a floor-to-ceiling mural of the Inspiration4 launch. The suit is mostly intact, absent only a few components that SpaceX still considers to be proprietary.

"I did ask if I could try it on one more time and they said no," said Arceneaux, who last saw the suit on the recovery ship after the almost three-day mission. "I can't even touch it. It has to be kept in perfect museum quality."

Suspended by wires in mid-air next to the suit is "Jude," the plush "space puppy" that flew with Arceneaux, commander Jared Isaacman, pilot Sian Proctor and mission specialist Chris Sembroski as their mission's "zero-g indicator." Modeled after Puggle and Huckleberry, St. Jude's two specially-trained golden retrievers, Jude is slightly smaller than the replica dolls that the hospital sold as a fundraiser during the flight.

"There's also a photo of me and my crew and a story about Inspiration4. And then there's a video screen with my story just looping so that parents and families can view it and and see the real life story behind the spacesuit," said Arceneaux.

Arceneaux's suit is the fourth of the Inspiration4 crew's in-flight outfits to go on display. Isaacman, who as a billionaire entrepreneur underwrote the mission, has his suit at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida as part of the "Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex" attraction. Sembroski's suit is exhibited by the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, home to Space Camp, where he had worked as a counselor.

Proctor's SpaceX pressure suit just recently debuted with the opening of "Futures in Space," a new gallery in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

Isaacman joined Arceneaux at St. Jude on Tuesday for her suit's official unveiling.

Despite Arceneaux's proverbial "15 minutes of fame" (she and her crewmates were on the cover of Time magazine and were featured in a Netflix documentary about their mission), most of her patients today are unaware of her spaceflight.

"A lot of patients don't know, because in my patient encounters it's about them. It's not about me, and so I don't often bring it up unless I think hearing my story could encourage a patient or family."

Her suit on display may change that.

"Today was really special because I was able to give a sneak peek of the suit to some of my patients," Arceneaux told collectSPACE. "Just seeing their eyes when they saw the suit, they were so excited. So many of them told me that they want to wear an astronaut suit one day."

"And that makes It feel like the suit is home. It feels like it's where it's supposed to be," she said.