Inspiration4 mission: Space X wants to shoot 4 space laymen into space alone

SpaceX wants to put four laypeople into Earth orbit on Thursday night. The three-day trip in the Crew Dragon would be the start of a new stage in space tourism.

Nobody is a trained astronaut, and yet, according to the plan, they are supposed to orbit the earth alone for three days. The “Inspiration4” mission could herald a new stage in space tourism: for the first time, laypeople would be traveling in space – in a private space capsule – without a professional astronaut. Unless the Weather conditions are correct and there are no technical difficulties, their fully automatic space shuttle will take off from Cape Canaveral in the night from Wednesday to Thursday German time, according to the mission’s website.

With a maximum height of 575 kilometers, the capsule of the space flight company SpaceX should also move significantly further from the earth than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Virgin Galactic boss Richard Branson. The two had recently caused a sensation with their suborbital flights. However, each of them had only climbed about 100 kilometers with their aircraft for a few minutes. The Inspiration4 crew, on the other hand, will circle the earth once every 90 minutes at a speed of 30,000 km / h.

The Inspiration4 flight would be the first manned ascent into orbit since 2009

The Inspiration4 crew will sit inside the Crew Dragon capsule that SpaceX has already used to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). On this mission, however, there is no docking with the ISS, the coupling module has been replaced by a viewing dome, which enables a panoramic view of earth and space. The Inspiration4 flight would be the first manned ascent into orbit since 2009 not targeting the ISS. The space capsule will be put into orbit by a reusable Falcon-9 missile, which will then go through its third mission.

“Commander” (and financier) of the mission is US billionaire Jared Isaacman, who got rich with his payment processing company. SpaceX has not published how much he paid for his space adventure. According to the German press agency, it was rumored to have been $ 200 million. He would like to raise the same amount as a donation for the St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis as part of the mission. He has already donated $ 100 million. Now, among other things, 32 kilograms of hops will take part in the flight, which will then be auctioned off among breweries for a good cause. The clinic itself was able to raffle a place on board.

Commander Isaacman’s team

His team includes the 51-year-old professor of geosciences, Sian Proctor. The space enthusiast and “simulation astronaut” is active as a science communicator in addition to her teaching activities. She will act as a pilot during the mission: In the unlikely event that the automatic control of the capsule fails, she will take the helm, SpaceX announced. She won the ticket with a business idea in a business competition that Isaacman launched.

The third and fourth places were awarded by the St. Jude Hospital. They went to the 29-year-old medical assistant Hayley Arceneaux, who works at St. Jude Hospital and survived bone cancer as a child – she will be the youngest American woman in space. The 41-year-old computer scientist and Air Force veteran Christopher Sembroski received his ticket as a present from a friend who had won the hospital’s donation lottery.

In preparation for the time in space, the four had gone through an extensive test and fitness program. As with the entire mission, the training was also accompanied by cameras and shown as a documentary on Netflix.

According to an announcement, the five-hour launch window at the spaceport in Florida begins on September 15, shortly after 8 p.m. local time, which corresponds to 2 a.m. on September 16 in Germany. Should the start have to be postponed, the next available opportunity would be exactly 24 hours later. The start can be followed in the live stream on YouTube, among other places.