Watch Live: Inspiration4 crew returns to Earth after historic flight

The Inspiration4 crew completed the first fully civilian-funded orbit trip and plunged to Earth on Saturday, falling from hazy skies for a perfect sunset in the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral.

Suspended under four large parachutes, the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule settled down for a soft landing on target water at 7:06 p.m. EDT to conclude a 71-hour and three-minute journey.

“Inspiration4, on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home to planet Earth,” SpaceX said over the radio. “Your mission has shown the world that space is for all of us and that ordinary people can have an extraordinary impact on the world around them. Thank you for sharing your leadership, hope, generosity and prosperity. Congratulations.”

Commander Jared Isaacman, the billionaire who chartered the flight, replied, “It was a hell of a trick for us. We’re just getting started.”

Recovery teams waiting nearby reached the spacecraft within minutes to perform a quick inspection and connect cables to transport the capsule aboard SpaceX’s “Go Searcher” support ship.

Onboard surgeons and company technicians stood aboard the ship to open the Crew Dragon’s hatch to help the four passengers exit the capsule for initial medical checks and phone calls to friends and family. the family down.

A SpaceX commentator recounting a company webcast said the crew were in good shape after the trip – the first privately-funded civilian crew to orbit Earth in the history of the space.

“They’ll slide the capsule against the deck and we’ll open the hatch,” said Inspiration4 mission director Scott “Kidd” Poteet, a former Air Force Thunderbird pilot. “The first is the doc doing their initial assessment.… The priority is to make sure they’re healthy.”

Isaacman, Sian Proctor, Chris Sembroski, and Hayley Arceneaux were planning to board a helicopter for the short flight back to the Kennedy Space Center’s 3-mile-long shuttle runway for post-flight reunions and celebrations.

“They’re going to shower, change and get ready to jump in the helicopter for the flight home,” Poteet said. “Families will be there to welcome them into their homes. “

Isaacman and his fellow crew members began their last day in orbit at 12:30 p.m. Hours later, they donned their futuristic pressure suits and strapped in while flight controllers at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., Prepared the ship for entry.

Moments before a critical rocket fired to drop the ship out of orbit, TV views from inside the Crew Dragon showed Sembroski watching a movie on a computer tablet strapped to the left leg of his pressurized suit.

Either way, the Crew Dragon’s flight computer fired the Draco brake flares from the capsule for 15 minutes starting at 6:17 p.m. EDT, slowing the capsule enough to drop the other side of orbit into orbit. the atmosphere for a descent from southwest to northeast through Central America and the Florida peninsula.

After a spirited dive into the dense lower atmosphere, the capsule raced over the west coast of Florida south of Sarasota and quickly crossed the state towards the Kennedy Space Center, causing the windows to tremble with sonic booms. as it crossed the east coast and over the Atlantic Ocean.

A few minutes later, small braking parachutes deployed to stabilize the capsule, followed by the four main parachutes, which inflated in stages and rapidly slowed the craft during the last minutes of the mission.

Isaacman, CEO of a payments processing company and accomplished jet pilot, chartered the flight as part of a personal campaign to raise $ 200 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He donated the first $ 100 million himself and set up a donation program that has raised $ 50 million to date.

Arceneaux is a childhood cancer survivor who was treated at St. Jude and is now a medical assistant at the famous research center. Proctor, former finalist astronaut, educator and artist, and Sembroski, aerospace engineer, were selected in an online competition.

All four spent six months training for Inspiration4 flight and all four seemed to be having the best time of their lives in orbit, as evidenced by the few glimpses the audience saw during the mission. A more in-depth look at the flight will be featured as part of an ongoing Netflix documentary.

“They were rock stars from the start,” Poteet said. “And that’s a testament to SpaceX and the training they’ve taken over the past six months and more, plus some of the additional training we’ve offered to make sure they’re fully prepared.”

Isaacman, he said, is committed to “a 100% successful mission, and so far it has been.”

The mission began at 8:02 p.m. Wednesday when the crew’s Falcon 9 rocket woke up and moved away from historic area 39A of the Kennedy Space Center. The thruster propelled the Crew Dragon capsule into a 365-mile-high orbit, about 100 miles above the International Space Station.

During their three days in space, Isaacman and his company collected medical data to trace their adaptation to weightlessness, spoke with patients in St. Jude, gave the public a television tour of their capsule, and showed the SpaceX hemispherical dome installed to provide 360-degree views of Earth and space.

The crew also spoke on the radio with friends and family, including SpaceX founder Elon Musk, company president Gwynne Shotwell, actor Tom Cruise and U2 rock star Bono.

“Tom was obviously super excited, giving us a vision of ‘Top Gun 2’,” said Poteet. “As avid aviation enthusiasts, we’re very excited about this one for sure.”

While about half of the people who fly in space suffer from motion sickness in their first days in zero gravity, Inspiration4’s crew appeared cheerful and healthy in the video clips released during the mission.

“They were absolute rock stars, and we couldn’t be prouder,” Poteet said.

When asked if the crew had faced any technical issues during the flight, he replied that there were a few “minor challenges” but nothing significant.

“For example, there was a minor waste management issue that the crew and mission control needed to resolve,” he said, without adding details. “But honestly, it didn’t impact the mission.… It was a huge success. To quote SpaceX, it was one of the most successful missions they’ve ever been able to perform to date. overall we couldn’t be happier. “

Isaacman, Proctor, Sembroski and Arceneaux became the 588th, 589th, 590th and 591st individuals to fly in space, bringing the US total to 311 men and 56 women. They were the 25th to 28th people to fly into space on a purely commercial basis and the first privately funded non-government crew to enter orbit.