SpaceX launches all-civilian crew on Inspiration4 mission

An all-civilian crew whirled into space on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday on the first privately funded non-government orbit trip, a historic three-day flight dedicated to the elevation $ 200 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Alongside billionaire Jared Isaacman, who chartered the mission, were Chris Sembroski, an “everyday” aerospace engineer; Sian Proctor, an artist-educator who will become only the fourth black woman to fly in space; and Hayley Arceneaux, a cancer survivor from St. Jude who now works at the hospital.

“Inspiration4 is ready for launch,” Isaacman radioed to flight controllers moments before takeoff. “Hit him, SpaceX!”

And that’s what they did. The Falcon 9’s first stage engines fired on time at 8:02 p.m. EDT, lighting up the sky in the early evening as the thruster pulled away from Kennedy Space Center pad 39A with a thrust of 1.7 million of books.

The sky-light ascent went smoothly with the first stage making its third flight, propelling the rocket out of the dense lower atmosphere. All nine booster engines shut down two and a half minutes after takeoff, the stage collapsed, and the flight continued using power from the single upper stage vacuum engine.

The first stage, meanwhile, turned and flew to a precise landing on an offshore drone, marking SpaceX’s 92nd successful booster recovery, it’s the 69th at sea.

At this point, nine and a half minutes after launch, the second stage and the Crew Dragon capsule were safely in the planned preliminary orbit. Two rocket launches were required to circularize the orbit at an altitude of 357 miles, 100 miles above the International Space Station.

That’s more than anyone who has flown since the last shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009.

From this high perch, Isaacman and his Inspiration4 teammates will enjoy an unparalleled 360-degree view of Earth and deep space through a clear, personalized dome or cupola, in the nose of the capsule that replaced the mooring mechanism used for NASA flights. at the space station.

“We gave you a good trip to orbit,” Bill Gerstenmaier, former NASA chief of space operations and now senior head of SpaceX, told the crew after the spacecraft separated. “Enjoy your time in orbit, and we look forward to seeing you fly with SpaceX again.”

Isaacman said the flight carried the crew “to the door of an exciting and unexplored frontier where few have come before and many are about to follow. The door is now opening. And that is enough. unbelievable.”

Asked before launch if anyone on the crew had any concerns about flying a rocket into space, Isaacman said SpaceX founder Elon Musk gave the crew “the assurance that the whole management team is focused only on this mission and is very confident. And that obviously inspires a lot of confidence in us too. But no nervousness, eager to start. “

Arceneaux added: “All the jitters are of the right kind.”

Shortly after Wednesday’s launch, former first lady Michelle Obama tweeted congratulations to the people on board, writing: “I think of all the young people who will admire this crew and dream big because of them.”

While billionaires Richard branson and Jeff Bezos made headlines earlier this summer when they spent a few minutes in zero gravity on ascending and descending suborbital flights, the Inspiration4 crew will spend three days orbiting Earth before returning to the landing in the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday night.

Isaacman said the flight marked an “inspiring” first step towards opening the high border to civilian use.

“We set out from the start to deliver a very inspiring message, certainly what can be done in space and the possibilities there, but also what we can accomplish here on Earth,” he said.

This included “the largest fundraising effort in the history of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, recognizing the true responsibilities we have here on Earth to earn the right to progress in space,” did he declare. “And I feel like we’re on the right track to achieve that goal.”

The crew is planning an in-flight event with patients in St. Jude and will perform a battery of medical tests and experiments throughout the mission, including the use of an ultrasound device to help measure movements. of fluid towards the head caused by the onset of weightlessness.

Fluid changes, interactions with the neuro-vestibular system or balance, and other reactions trigger space motion sickness in about half of astronauts who fly in space, an uncomfortable disease that goes away usually after two to three days as the body adjusts to the new environment.

“Space sickness is one of the interesting things this mission will explore, just like all of the NASA missions that came before,” said Todd Ericson, a former Air Force test pilot who helps manage the Inspiration4 mission for Isaacman.

“Each person reacts differently,” he said. “Fighter pilots get as sick as non-fighter pilots and vice versa. SpaceX’s medical team has a lot of experience in this area….”