John Shoffner
Shoffner in 2023
Born (1955-07-25) July 25, 1955[1]
Fairbanks, Alaska, U.S.
StatusActive
Occupation(s)astronaut, skydiver, racing driver, investor, and pilot[1]
Space career
Time in space
9 days, 5 hours and 27 minutes
Selection2023
MissionsAxiom Mission 2

John Shoffner (born July 25, 1955) is an American racing driver, investor, and pilot. In May 2021, he paid for a seat on Axiom Mission 2, the second entirely-private crew mission to the International Space Station. Shoffner served as the pilot of the Crew Dragon crew vehicle, which launched on May 21, 2023.[2]

Biography

Shoffner was born in Fairbanks, Alaska. He spent most of his career in Knoxville, Tennessee. Before creating his own motorsports team J2-Racing[3] in 2012, Shoffner was a businessman. He had a 21-year career with Kentucky-based telecommunications manufacturer Dura-Line.[4] He retired as president in 1997.

Shoffner, an air show pilot, has over 8,500 flight hours in fixed-wing aircraft, decommissioned military aircraft, and helicopters. Shoffner owns a Republic P-47D Thunderbolt named "Wicked Wabbit".[5]

Shoffner has competed in multiple sports including water skiing, cycling (crossing the U.S. in 18 days without support), white water kayaking, hang gliding, and making over 3,000 skydives and base jumps.

Motorsports career

Shoffner has competed several times in the Nürburgring 24 Hours.[6] In 2016 he finished 19th overall and second in his class (SP7) with a Porsche 991 GT3 Cup.[7] In 2017 he finished 32nd overall and third in his class (SP7) with a Porsche 991 GT3 Cup.[8]

Shoffner has competed with Team GetSpeed since the 2019 VLN Series, driving a Mercedes-AMG GT.[9] He finished in 13th place in 2019 and 10th in 2020.

Shoffner was second in the 2019 Nürburgring Endurance Series Carrera Cup Class Championship. He holds a total of three in-class victories in the Carrera Cup Class.[1]

Nürburgring 24 Hour results

Year Team Car Category Position Class Position
2015 Germany Frikadelli Racing Team Renault Clio SP3 93rd 8th
2016 Germany Frikadelli Racing Team Porsche 991 GT3 Cup SP7 19th 2nd
2017 Germany Gigaspeed Team GetSpeed Performance Porsche 991 GT3 Cup SP7 32nd 3rd
2018 Germany Gigaspeed Team GetSpeed Performance Porsche 991 GT3 Cup SP7 31st 4th
2019 Germany GetSpeed Performance Mercedes-AMG GT3 SP9 13th 12th
2020 Germany GetSpeed Performance Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo SP9 17th 16th

Space mission

Shoffner paid for a SpaceX Dragon 2 seat on Axiom Mission 2, commanded by Peggy Whitson, as announced on 25 May 2021.[2][10][11] The mission launched on 21 May 2023.[12] He was also the back-up pilot of Axiom Mission 1.[13]

During their week-long mission, Shoffner and Whitson will conduct single-cell genome sequencing demonstrations on the International Space Station for 10x Genomics.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "John Shoffner (US)". www.gtopen.net. Retrieved 2023-05-22.
  2. 1 2 Christian Davenport (2021-05-25). "Lifelong space enthusiast becomes latest civilian to buy his way into space". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
  3. ↑ "Team – J2 Racing". Retrieved 2021-06-03.
  4. ↑ Fraser, Jill Andresky (1990-01-01). "Plans to Grow By, Strategic Planning Article". Inc.com. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
  5. ↑ "Republic P-47D Thunderbolt "Wicked Wabbit"". Tennessee Museum Of Aviation. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
  6. ↑ "John Shoffner trotzt Schmerzen: Vier Rennrunden mit Schulterproblemen". Motorsport-Total.com (in German). Retrieved 2021-06-03.
  7. ↑ 24h Rennen Result Official.
  8. ↑ Magazine, Speedsport. "John Shoffner: Rennfahrer-Biographie - Karriere und Erfolge". www.speedsport-magazine.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-06-03.
  9. ↑ "GetSpeed Performance has big goals in 2021 - an interview with Adam Osieka". lsr-freun.de. 23 December 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  10. ↑ "Peggy Whitson, America's most experienced astronaut, to lead commercial flight to space station". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
  11. 1 2 "A Champion Race Car Driver Will Pilot Axiom's Second Crewed Mission". Supercluster. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
  12. ↑ Margetta, Robert (13 December 2021). "NASA Selects Second Private Astronaut Mission to Space Station". NASA. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  13. ↑ Christian Davenport (2021-02-01) [2021-01-26]. "Meet the people paying $55 million each to fly to the space station". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
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