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SpaceX to launch first all-civilian mission with tech CEO
Inspiration4, which is expected to launch in the fourth quarter, seeks to raise support for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and is another step towards Musk’s efforts to make human spaceflight more common.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX announced on Monday that it will launch its first all-civilian orbital spaceflight in late 2021. The mission is called 'Inspiration4' and the company's technology entrepreneur Jared Isaacman will be commanding it. Isaacman, who is also a trained pilot, will be joined by three other people .
"Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, is donating the three seats alongside him aboard Dragon to individuals from the general public who will be announced in the weeks ahead," a statement issued by the company read.
"The Inspiration4 crew will receive commercial astronaut training by SpaceX on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft, orbital mechanics, operating in microgravity, zero gravity, and other forms of stress testing. They will go through emergency preparedness training, spacesuit and spacecraft ingress and egress exercises, as well as partial and full mission simulations," it added.
Inspiration4, which is expected to launch in the fourth quarter, seeks to raise support for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and is another step towards Musk’s efforts to make human spaceflight more common.
“This is an important milestone toward enabling access to space for everyone,” Musk said on a conference call with Isaacman, according to news agency Bloomberg.
The mission is planned for "two to four days" and upon its conclusion, Dragon, the spacecraft, will re-enter Earth's atmosphere for a soft water landing off the coast of Florida.
(with agency inputs)
