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SpaceX Inspiration4 Launches Today
September 14, 2021 at 10:02 PM EDT
By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Alyssa Robinette
SpaceX’s Inspiration4 will launch into space this evening from Florida and is set to be both an inspiring and historic flight. Here is some information on SpaceX’s latest mission.
The five-hour launch window opens at 8:02 p.m. ET on Wednesday, September 15, from Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Fla.
Inspiration4 is the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit and none of the four-person crew has been to space before. While several private citizens have launched to orbit before, there has always been professional astronauts to help or take over. The crew is made up of Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski and Dr. Sian Proctor. Two of the Inspiration4 crew, Sembroski and Proctor, were chosen by winning a sweepstakes that was publicized through a commercial that ran during the Super Bowl earlier this year.
Jared Isaacman is the commander of the mission and is also funding it. He is an experienced jet pilot, which has given him a foundation to lead the spacecraft.
Hayley Arceneaux is a childhood cancer survivor who was treated at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and now works there as a physician assistant. She was selected to represent the hospital and will serve in a medical role on the flight and oversee experiments and crew care.
Chris Sembroski is an aerospace industry professional, who was once a U.S. Space Camp counselor and served in the U.S. Air Force. He was selected from nearly 72,000 entries based on donations to the St. Jude’s campaign.
Dr. Sian Proctor is a geoscientist and analog astronaut, or a person who conducts activities in simulated space conditions. She is also an educator and trained pilot who was a finalist in NASA’s 2009 astronaut class. She was selected based on an entrepreneur’s ability to raise funds for St. Jude’s.
This crew will fly in the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which is the first private spacecraft to take humans to the International Space Station. It is also the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth. The rocket and autonomous spacecraft are owned and operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, not NASA.
The Inspiration4 crew will reach orbit and circle the globe every 90 minutes, traveling at 17,500 mph. They will also reach an altitude of 360 miles, which is high than the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope and any human space flight mission to Earth orbit with the exception of Gemini 10 and 11 in 1966.
They will not be docking at the International Space Station. Instead, the purpose of this mission is to explore and raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The crew will spend three days in space to prove that a group of nonprofessional astronauts can board a private spacecraft and survive in space and a private company can get them to and from orbit safely. After the three days, they will return to Earth’s orbit and then fall into the ocean near Florida to be recovered.
The flight raise money by auctioning of clothing and other items that went to space. It will also be the subject of a series airing on Netflix. To kick off the campaign, Jared Isaacman donated $100 million and is hoping to raise as much as double that amount.
Credit: Inpiration4, Wikipedia
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Story Image: A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft approaches the International Space Station for docking (NASA/SpaceX).
The five-hour launch window opens at 8:02 p.m. ET on Wednesday, September 15, from Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Fla.
Inspiration4 is the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit and none of the four-person crew has been to space before. While several private citizens have launched to orbit before, there has always been professional astronauts to help or take over. The crew is made up of Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski and Dr. Sian Proctor. Two of the Inspiration4 crew, Sembroski and Proctor, were chosen by winning a sweepstakes that was publicized through a commercial that ran during the Super Bowl earlier this year.
Jared Isaacman is the commander of the mission and is also funding it. He is an experienced jet pilot, which has given him a foundation to lead the spacecraft.
Hayley Arceneaux is a childhood cancer survivor who was treated at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and now works there as a physician assistant. She was selected to represent the hospital and will serve in a medical role on the flight and oversee experiments and crew care.
Chris Sembroski is an aerospace industry professional, who was once a U.S. Space Camp counselor and served in the U.S. Air Force. He was selected from nearly 72,000 entries based on donations to the St. Jude’s campaign.
Dr. Sian Proctor is a geoscientist and analog astronaut, or a person who conducts activities in simulated space conditions. She is also an educator and trained pilot who was a finalist in NASA’s 2009 astronaut class. She was selected based on an entrepreneur’s ability to raise funds for St. Jude’s.
This crew will fly in the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which is the first private spacecraft to take humans to the International Space Station. It is also the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth. The rocket and autonomous spacecraft are owned and operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, not NASA.
The Inspiration4 crew will reach orbit and circle the globe every 90 minutes, traveling at 17,500 mph. They will also reach an altitude of 360 miles, which is high than the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope and any human space flight mission to Earth orbit with the exception of Gemini 10 and 11 in 1966.
They will not be docking at the International Space Station. Instead, the purpose of this mission is to explore and raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The crew will spend three days in space to prove that a group of nonprofessional astronauts can board a private spacecraft and survive in space and a private company can get them to and from orbit safely. After the three days, they will return to Earth’s orbit and then fall into the ocean near Florida to be recovered.
The flight raise money by auctioning of clothing and other items that went to space. It will also be the subject of a series airing on Netflix. To kick off the campaign, Jared Isaacman donated $100 million and is hoping to raise as much as double that amount.
Credit: Inpiration4, Wikipedia
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Story Image: A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft approaches the International Space Station for docking (NASA/SpaceX).