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After three days in space, SpaceX’s first fully civilian crew will return to Earth tonight with a water landing off the coast of Florida to end a mission unlike any other in history.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience is set to make landfall in the Atlantic Ocean near Florida tonight (September 18) to end the Inspiration4 mission, a billionaire-funded private space flight that launched four civilians into orbit earlier this year. week. Splashdown is targeted for 7:06 p.m. EDT (11:06 p.m. GMT).
You can watch SpaceX’s Inspiration4 splashdown in the window above, courtesy of SpaceX, starting at 6:00 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT). You can also watch it directly from SpaceX here and on Youtube.
Live Updates: SpaceX’s Inspiration4 Private Fully Civilian Orbital Mission
Following: SpaceX Inspiration4’s fully civilian private mission in pictures
“We know how lucky we are to be here,” Inspiration4 Commander Jared Isaacman said during a live video broadcast on Earth Friday (September 17). “We’re giving all of our time right now to scientific research and ukulele playing, and trying to raise awareness for a cause that’s important to us on Earth.”
Isaacman, a 37-year-old tech entrepreneur and founder of Shift4Payments, purchased the Inspiration4 journey with SpaceX to fulfill his lifelong dream of flying into space. But he also used the theft to raise $ 200 million to support childhood cancer research and treatment for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. To that end, he donated the other three seats on the flight to raise funds as well as $ 100 million of his own funds for the cause.
A seat went to Hayley Arceneaux, 29, a childhood cancer survivor, who now works as a medical assistant in St. Jude. She was the flight medic and is now the youngest American woman to ever fly in space, as well as the first with a prosthetic leg. The other two seats went to geoscientist Sian Proctor, 51, of Arizona (mission pilot) and data engineer Chris Sembroski, 42 (mission specialist and ukulele player), as part of online contest to raise funds.
“I just want you all to know that we are doing this for you,” Arceneaux told patients in St. Jude during the flight on a video call. “We think about you so much, I wanted to tell you that I was a little girl undergoing cancer treatment, like many of you. If I can do it, you can do it, and so I am. proud each of you. “
The Inspiration4 astronauts were launched into orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket, taking off from Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the same pad used for Apollo lunar missions, space shuttle flights, and Crew Dragon travel. of SpaceX carrying NASA astronauts. The Falcon 9 and its Crew Dragon Resilience had flown before. Private astronauts received months of training for the mission and wore the same type of sleek white flight suits used by professional astronauts.
Unlike previous SpaceX crewed missions, all of which flew to NASA’s International Space Station, Inspiration4 flew alone on a flight path that took it higher than the station and any other SpaceX Dragon flight to date. , approximately 363 miles (585 kilometers) above Earth.
As Inspiration4 was not heading to the International Space Station, SpaceX replaced its nose-level docking port with a giant dome window, a cupola that is the largest single window ever seen in space.
“We spent so much time in this dome,” Arceneaux said in Friday’s live video. “We can put our heads in and fit multiple crew members and see the entire perimeter of the Earth. And the views, I have to say, are out of this world.”
The Inspiration4 crew also performed a series of experiments to study the human body in space and carry a number of objects, such as the Sembroski ukulele being played and works of art made by Proctor, which will be put auction later to collect more finds for St. Jude.
They also rang the New York Stock Exchange closing bell on Friday and Isaacman placed the first bet from space (he picked the Philadelphia Eagles to win the next Super Bowl) as part of the mission. Civilian astronauts dined on cold pizzas, pasta Bolognese, roasted edamame, Mediterranean lamb, bowling, M & Ms, and peanut butter cups among their other food choices.
While the mission was a thrill for all four crew members, Isaacman stressed that he hopes their flight will inspire others to pursue their own dreams on Earth and in space.
“A big part of our mission here at Inspiration4 is to inspire what can be done here in space, and there is a huge amount of it and we have to go out and explore it,” Isaacman said. “But also, we have our responsibilities that we need to deal with on Earth and at the top of our list right now, beating childhood cancer. That’s why we support St. Jude’s.”
Email Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.
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