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The four private space travelers who took to orbit on SpaceX’s historic Inspiration4 mission last month officially have their astronaut wings.
The civilian crew, who put a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft into orbit on September 15 and returned to Earth three days later, received their company astronaut wings on Friday October 1 during a presentation at SpaceX headquarters. in Hawthorne, California.
“Yesterday we were introduced to our SpaceX astronaut wings,” wrote Inspiration4 astronaut Hayley Arceneaux, chief medical officer of the mission. in a Twitter post Saturday. “This beautiful symbol of our journey means everything to me! So if it looks like I’m crying, mind your own business.”
Pictures: SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission in pictures
Yesterday we were introduced to our SpaceX astronaut wings. This beautiful symbol of our trip means everything to me! Also if it looks like I’m crying, mind your own business 😉😉 pic.twitter.com/3TqMQ91okKOctober 2, 2021
I cried when I had my wings! “
—Inspiration4 pilot Sian Proctor
Arceneaux was not alone in her jubilation.
“I cried when I had my wings!” Sian Proctor, a geoscientist and space communicator who served as a pilot for the Inspiration4 crew on the mission, wrote on Twitter.
SpaceX’s astronaut wings pin has a Crew Dragon capsule in its center from which emerge a dragon head and wings. The back is inscribed with the name of each crew member, the call sign and the role of the mission.
Inspiration4 was a three-day trade space mission funded by US entrepreneur and billionaire Jared Isaacman, who purchased four seats to orbit a SpaceX Dragon and Falcon 9 rocket. Isaacman donated three of the seats to raise funds and raise awareness the public to childhood cancer research through the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Arceneaux, an assistant physician from St. Jude and a childhood bone cancer survivor, represented the hospital during the flight. Proctor and another civilian, aerospace data engineer Chris Sembroski, won their seats in public competitions. They were the first fully civilian crew to fly into space without a professional astronaut, and Proctor became the first black female spacecraft pilot in history on the flight.
During their flight, Inspiration4 astronauts spent three days circling the earth, performing science experiments, and gazing out of the largest single window ever built for space, a dome-shaped cupola. that SpaceX attached to the nose of the Dragon capsule for the mission. Their mission is the subject of a Netflix documentary series and has raised over $ 200 million for St. Jude.
“Until we meet again, thank you to all the wonderful people at @SpaceX who have done so much for me and @ inspiration4x“, wrote Sembroski, Inspiration4’s mission specialist. on Twitter. “And most importantly, thank you to my beautiful wife Erin who gave so much to support this dream on a most incredible journey.”
According to SpaceX and the Inspiration4 teams, private astronauts were invited to the company’s headquarters on Friday to share their space flight experiences. The presentation of the astronaut wings was apparently a surprise.
“Our Inspiration4 team visited SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. Yesterday and were amazed by the SpaceX Dragon wings,” said the Inspiration4 outreach team. wrote on Twitter.
Isaacman, who did not disclose how much to pay for the Inspiration4 flight, thanked SpaceX on Saturday for the flight.
“It was great to see all of our friends at SpaceX and thank them for making this mission a success,” Isaacman added. on Twitter. “Incredible memories.
Email Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.
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