An impressive achievement for Elon Musk and SpaceX in the battle for space tourism. For the first time, 4 non-astronaut passengers will sail in orbit over Earth.
For the first time: Space tourists
In recent months we are in the midst of a journey that involves a lot of money, technology and especially ego around the question of which billionaire will first bring tourists into space. After Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, now comes the donor of Elon Musk, who may be doing it last, but doing the “real thing.
Higher than the International Space Station
Yesterday (Thursday) at 04:02 Italy timeor can assume 5:32 A.M IST Friday, a Falcon 9 missile from SpaceX took off with 4 civilians on it for the Inspiration4 mission. The launcher, which then took off from a 39A launch at the Canadian Space Center in Florida, carried the second phase and the upgraded Resilience passenger capsule, which is the same Dragon (tourists) passenger capsule that last year brought astronauts to the International Space Station – and underwent adjustments.
Among other things, a panoramic glass roof was installed in the capsule, which will allow space tourists a spectacular view of the earth and space. This glass dome, which of course underwent many tests before launch, replaced the part intended for mooring on top of the International Space Station.
Inside the cabin sat the mission commander, Jared Isaacman, a 38-year-old pilot, and the founder of the payment company Shift4 Payments and 3 other passengers he selected and funded their stay: Hailey Arcano, a 29-year-old medical assistant recovering from cancer; Christopher Sambruski, Lockheed-Martin Data Engineer; And Dr. Sian Proctor, who will be the fourth African-American woman to fly into space.
2:48 minutes after launch, the first phase of the missile parted and returned to Earth for a perfect landing aboard the SpaceX autonomous landing rig that sailed the waters of the Atlantic Ocean; About 9 minutes after launch, the passenger capsule also parted ways from the second stage, and began intermittent maneuvers of operating its engines, prior to entering orbit around the earth.
The crew of #Inspiration4 had an incredible first day in space! They’ve completed more than 15 orbits around planet Earth since liftoff and made full use of the Dragon cupola. pic.twitter.com/StK4BTWSA6
— Inspiration4 (@inspiration4x) September 17, 2021
Unlike Branson’s “Flight in the Sky” and Bezos’ selfie mission, this time the mission is different. Although this is “space tourism” in the sense that it is private citizens who did not go through NASA’s screenings and preparations and paid for the flight out of pocket – but here the similarity ends. Unlike previous flights that more or less reached the Kerman line – an imaginary line 100 km above the earth – which marks the lower limit of space – the SpaceX passenger capsule will sail 580 km above the earth.
It is about 180 km higher than the orbit of the International Space Station – and the highest it has reached since 2009, when NASA sent astronauts to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
To understand the perspective – as American astrophysicist Neil DeGrass Tyson explains , if we treat the Earth as a globe, then relatively speaking, the space station is about 1 cm above it.
The passengers are expected to stay in space for about three days during which they will cruise at a speed of 27,000 km / h and complete the Earth’s coffee every 90 minutes.
The journey back will begin when the weather allows it, then the spacecraft will maneuver back to Earth, passing through the atmosphere towards the wading in the ocean waters off the coast of Florida. In case of unfriendly weather the task may take several more days.
Fare$ 55 million per ticket
As mentioned, the person who funded the entire mission out of his own pocket is Isaacman, who hopes to raise awareness for the Research Institute and St. Jude. Isaacman himself donated $ 100 million to the organization and hopes to raise another $ 100 million with the mission, with a little over $ 30 million currently donated.
Neither SpaceX nor Isaacman revealed details about the cost of the mission, but the ticket price is about $ 55 million. In return, you will enjoy along preparation that includes grueling training, a custom space suit and, yes, also a launch into space.
We do not know if the passengers packed alone, but we do know that Samborsky took with him to a ukulele space of the Martin Guitar Company, as part of his commercial sponsorship; And Dr. Proctor brought with her books of poetry and art.
In addition to the pan part, the four are expected to participate in medical research regarding the effects of stay in space and micro-gravity on the human body.
About the Tourists of Space X
The passengers: A billionaire, a cancer survivor, a geologist and a raffle winner
- Jared Isaacman, 38, the billionaire founder of payment processing company Shift4, who is also personally financing this entire mission
- Hayley Arceneaux, a 29-year-old cancer survivor who now works as a physician assistant at St. Jude, the hospital where she was treated, in Memphis, Tennessee. She’ll be the first person with a prosthetic body part to go to space, and she’ll serve as the flight’s chief medical officer. St. Jude selected Arceneaux for this mission as Isaacman’s request, according to a Netflix documentary, and, at the time, she said she was so unfamiliar with space travel that she asked if she would be traveling to the moon, unaware that humans have not set foot on the moon in 50 years.
- Sian Proctor, 51, a geologist and educator who was selected for a seat on this mission through a post on social media in which she highlights her space-related artwork and entrepreneurial spirit. She’ll be only the fourth Black woman from the US to travel to orbit.
- Chris Sembroski, a 42-year-old Seattle-based Lockheed Martin employee and former camp counselor at Alabama’s famed Space Camp. He won his seat through a raffle he entered by donating to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, though he wasn’t the official winner. His friend snagged the seat and, after deciding not to go, transferred it to him.
Stay tuned -Wear MASK
