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SpaceX has made history. Again.
The spaceflight company founded by billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday launched four private passengers into orbit in the first space mission with an all-civilian crew.
A reusable Falcon 9 rocket carrying Jared Isaacman, a 38-year-old tech entrepreneur, Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old geoscientist, Chris Sembroski, a 42-year-old aerospace data engineer, and Hayley Arceneaux, a former medical assistant, took off shortly after 8 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The crew of four will now spend three days orbiting the Earth before re-entering the atmosphere and plunging into the Atlantic Ocean.
It is not the first time that private passengers have paid to fly in space, but the so-called Inspiration4 mission is the first expedition to orbit without a professional astronaut on board. Historic flight represents the next step in the evolution of human spaceflight, as access to the cosmos extends beyond governments and their space agencies alone.
“The door is wide open,” Isaacman said as he and his crew reached space.
SpaceX’s rocket roared into the night sky from the same launch pad as NASA’s Apollo lunar missions, as well as the Space Shuttle’s first and last flights. During their ascent into orbit, the crew members enthusiastically celebrated and flashed thumbs-up signs as they completed each major milestone.
Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, a payment processing company based in Pennsylvania, paid an unspecified amount for the three-day ride in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. The Inspiration4 mission is part of a charitable initiative to raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. In addition to donating $ 100 million to St. Jude, Isaacman donated the other three seats on Inspiration4 flight to his crew.
“This dream started 10 months ago,” Isaacman said Tuesday during a pre-flight briefing. “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.”
The Crew Dragon spacecraft will circle the planet 15 times a day at an altitude of nearly 360 miles, higher than the current orbits of the space station and the Hubble Space Telescope, according to SpaceX.
The Inspiration4 mission will be similar to SpaceX’s routine flights to the International Space Station, except this time the capsule will not dock with the orbiting laboratory. As such, the company has added a new glass dome to the top of the spacecraft for 360-degree views.
NASA was quick to congratulate the Inspiration4 team on Wednesday, Tweeter that the launch “represents an important step in the quest to make room for everyone.”
The successful launch of the Inspiration4 mission is a key milestone for SpaceX and a boon for the burgeoning space tourism industry. Two months ago, rival billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson both launched themselves to the edge of space in vehicles developed by their own respective aerospace companies. While both summer flights were suborbital getaways, Bezos’ Blue Origin and Branson’s Virgin Galactic plan to offer orbital rides to space tourists in the future.
These pioneer flights – for now limited to those who can afford to spend millions of dollars on a ticket – could accelerate the expansion of private spaceflight, making space travel more regular and ultimately more affordable.
The first space tourist, American multimillionaire Dennis Tito, was launched to the International Space Station during an eight-day expedition in 2001. Tito reportedly paid $ 20 million to get to the orbiting outpost on board of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. So far, only seven civilians, including Tito, had paid to fly into space.
Arceneaux, a bone cancer survivor now works in St. Jude; Sembroski is a US Air Force veteran; and Proctor is a licensed pilot and former NASA astronaut candidate.
Proctor secured his ticket to the space through an online contest hosted by Shift4 Payments and Sembroski won his seat in a charity campaign to raise funds for St. Jude.
Crew members called their trip a “humanitarian mission” and explained how they hope to inspire people around the world.
“I want to thank everyone for all the support, encouragement and love” Arceneaux tweeted on Wednesday, just hours before launch. “And thank you @StJude for being the reason I’m here today. It’s for anyone who’s ever been through something difficult, and I know we’ve all done it. Be hopeful because there will be better days.
The Inspiration4 mission is just the start of SpaceX’s ambitions to launch paying customers into orbit. Earlier this year, the company announced that the first crew of the private space station, led by former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, will launch into the orbiting lab in early 2022. López-Alegría will be joined by three men who each pay $ 55 million. spend eight days in the space station.
In 2018, SpaceX also said Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, founder and CEO of fashion retailer Zozo, would be the first private passenger to circle the moon on a mission slated for 2023.
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