HAWTHORNE, California - There was a time when the average person was impressed by the billionaire who would purchase an island and transform it into a tiny kingdom of their own.

But in the last few years, it's become much more impressive to be the billionaire whose own aerospace manufacturing company sends them far beyond earth's borders.

Just over a week after Richard Branson traveled to space via his company's VSS Unity spacecraft, fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos followed suit by accompanying three other passengers into space aboard his company's New Shepard rocket.

Meanwhile, yet another successful CEO's private aerospace company is training a team of passengers for an upcoming historical space flight. 

Generosity, Prosperity, Leadership, and Hope.

All smiles for our #Inspiration4 crew during Dragon simulations at @SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California.@ChrisSembroski, @DrSianProctor, @rookisaacman, @ArceneauxHayley pic.twitter.com/AxGCBKrZ4w

— Inspiration4 (@inspiration4x) July 16, 2021

Elon Musk created aerospace manufacturer, SpaceX in 2002 and it went on to make history as the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station. The Hawthorne, California-based firm also earned recognition as the producer of the first successful vertical take-off and vertical landing orbital rocket. 

SpaceX has a lengthy list of exciting plans. It's currently training a crew of four individuals who have been handpicked to embark on an all-civilian multi-day mission to space.

The endeavor is called Inspiration4 and, incidentally, one of the mission's inspiring crew members is a native of Louisiana named Hayley Arceneaux.

Arceneaux hopes to become the first Cajun in space and you can read more about her here.

I’m still not over this zero G flight pic.twitter.com/XASUZWqTmB

— Hayley Arceneaux (@ArceneauxHayley) July 14, 2021

As illustrated in Arceneaux's tweet above, Inspiration4's crew is participating in comprehensive training, stress testing and mission simulations, all of which are provided by SpaceX.

The civilian astronauts intend to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and orbit Earth every 90 minutes along a customized flight path during a multi-day journey before re-entering Earth's atmosphere for a soft water landing off the Florida coast.

But Musk's plans for SpaceX are even bigger than multi-day journeys into space. His long-term goal is to colonize Mars through more efficient space travel methods.

Musk said the first manned mission to the red planet may happen as soon as 2026.

Few details related to SpaceX's journey to Mars have been revealed, but the company is reportedly working closely with NASA as they develop plans.

The Starship system, SpaceX’s fully reusable launch vehicle composed of a booster stage named Super Heavy and a second stage called "Starship,” may play a key role in bringing the first humans to Mars.

While every aerospace manufacturer may not have the long-term goal of relocating folks to other planets, companies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin, share a similar vision. In looking to humanity's future, their focus moves beyond the terrestrial in search of solutions to some of society's most pressing struggles.