First fully manned civilian mission is now in space
The space race is now private, a few weeks ago we saw the first launch of Blue Origins in which the owner of the company and billionaire Jeff Bezos was on board. The other company that is in a space race is SpaceX owned by tycoon Elon Musk. And of course, he was not going to be left behind.
Yesterday, September 15, SpaceX managed to launch its Dragon Crew capsule aboard the Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In this first launch, the capsule will remain in space for a total of 3 days, in which it is expected to circle the earth about 50 times.
Finally, the capsule will return to earth on September 18 and will land on the autonomous aerospace port platform owned by the company. Specifically, it will be the OCISLY (Of Course I Still Love You) platform that will receive the capsule in the Atlantic.
Space Mission Inspiration 4
This space mission launched by Space X has 4 civilian crew members, that is, none of them is a trained astronaut. This is a milestone in the space race, since it is the first time that civilians will be in orbit for 3 days.
The capsule that carries the crew will be orbiting 575 kilometers high. Almost 5 times the 100 kilometers Blue Origins reached, so SpaceX went big. To give you an idea, the International Space Station orbits 408 kilometers high.
That is why the company made history with this launch and that it could mark the beginning of recreational flights into space. Without a doubt, SpaceX under the command of Elon Musk has brought great advances not only to aerospace science, but also to humanity.
Who are the crew?
As we have already mentioned, the crew for this trip is made up of a total of 4 people, who have received the following code names: Leader, Hope, Prosperity and Generosity.
Next, we will tell you who are these 4 people who made history in this launch of Space X:
- Jared Isaacman (Leader) : This is a billionaire who has helped finance the project. He is the founder and CEO of the company Sift 4 Payments, which is a company that is dedicated to providing technological and financial solutions to other companies.
- Sian Proctor (Prosperity) : She is a professor of geosciences and specialist in scientific communication. She is a highly trained businesswoman and pilot, a business partner and close friend of Jared. She is also a user of the financial services of Sift 4 Payments.
- Hayley Arceneaux (Esperanza) : She is a physicist who works at St. Jude Children's Hospital in Tennessee. This woman will become the youngest woman (29 years old) to travel to space. During his childhood he had to face bone cancer of which the doctors did not give much hope and he was able to survive. That's where its code name comes from.
- Christopher Sembroski (Generosity) : This is a United States Air Force veteran, data engineer, and camp Space Camp counselor. This man is a donor at St. Jude Hospital, which led to his generosity taking up a position on this mission.
And these are the four people who are making history at the launch of the Inspiration 4 mission. Besides being the first civilians to be in orbit for 3 days at 575 kilometers above sea level.
How was the launch?
The launch of the Dragon Crew capsule aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 took place at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. After a long wait, the launch took place at 8:02 PM EMT and was completely successful.
After takeoff, the Falcon 9 rocket landed in the Atlantic on the OCISLY platform so that it could be reused for a new mission.
Countdown, the Netflix series related to the Inspiration 4 mission
Along with this launch, the entertainment platform Netflix has launched a series called Countdow, a documentary miniseries in which the entire process that was carried out for this mission is told.
The series will have 5 episodes and tells the whole story including the selection of the crew and their training. Of course, also the entire launch process as well as unreleased scenes from space. In fact, the last episode of this miniseries will premiere on September 18, just the day the Dragon Crew returns to earth.
Without a doubt SpaceX has earned a place in the history books with this space mission that will change the world forever. This opens the doors to other more important missions and within a few years we will be able to see the birth of space tourism.