BlackMods

In a different era, Ms Arceneaux's prosthetic leg bones would have grounded her ambitions for space travel as a Nasa astronaut, because of the agency's strict medical requirements.

But the emergence of private space missions in recent years has enabled more of us to reach for the stars.

"Until this mission, I could have never been an astronaut," Ms Arceneaux said. "This mission is opening space travel to people who are not physically perfect."

Ms Arceneaux was at home in Tennessee when she got the "out of the blue" call on 5 January asking if she would join the mission.

Her response? "Immediately, I said, 'yes, yes please'."

After checking with her family to "make sure they were not adamantly opposed", and her brother and sister-in-law who - as aerospace engineers - "really reassured me how safe space travel is", she agreed to join the crew.

Mr Isaacman is planning to select and reveal the remaining two crew members by March.

One will be the winner of a sweepstake competition, whose proceeds will be donated to St Jude. pg slot

The other will go to the winner of a contest which asks entrepreneurs to design an online store using software made by Shift4, Mr Isaacman's payment technology company.