
While Musk, unlike his billionaire rivals, won’t be going into space himself on this trip, the launch will last much longer and much deeper into space than that of his two rivals, which only lasted minutes in the air and barely breached the barrier to space. Wednesday’s launch will also mark Musk’s entrance into the billionaire space race, joining Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic in having launched civilians into space. Last month, SpaceX sent a shipment of ants, avocados and a human-sized robotic arm to the seven astronauts at the International Space Station. “Each of these outstanding crew members embodies the best of humanity, and I am humbled to lead them on this historic and purposeful mission and the adventure of a lifetime.” The launching of Inspiration4 will be Elon Musks’ entrance to the billionaire space race. Jude here on earth while also seeing new possibilities for human spaceflight,” Isaacman said in March. “Inspiration4’s goal is to inspire humanity to support St. The crew will orbit the Earth for three days before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean. Facebookīoth the Dragon crew capsule and the reusable Falcon 9 rocket have flown before, according to. The Inspiration4 mission will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, spend three days in orbit. Preparation has involved “centrifuge training, Dragon simulations, observations of other SpaceX launch operations, Zero-G plane training, altitude training and additional classroom, simulation and medical testing,” Inspiration4 said in a press release. The four soon-to-be astronauts have been training for months since the flight crew was announced in March. Facebookĭespite those honorary titles, the crew will not actually be responsible for operating the spacecraft, the company has said. The Inspiration4 crew is composed of Jared Isaacman (left), Hayley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor and Chris Sembroski (right). Proctor is an analog astronaut whose father worked at the NASA tracking station during the Apollo missions. She nabbed her ticket to space by winning a contest held by Isaacman’s Shift4Shop eCommerce platform that sought inspirational entrepreneurs worthy of being “elevated to the stars.” Proctor, 51, is a community college educator in Tempe, Arizona.

Sembroski, 42, an Air Force veteran and aerospace data engineer who won a seat in a sweepstakes, will serve as mission specialist. Jude physician assistant, will serve as the mission’s “chief medical officer.” Despite being given titles for the mission, the crew will not actually be in charge of anything in space. The tech mogul has pledged $100 million to the institute.Īrceneaux, 29, a bone cancer survivor turned St. Isaacman has promoted the mission, dubbed Inspiration4, as an opportunity to raise awareness and funds for St. Sian Proctor will join Isaacman on the spaceflight. Hayley Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski and Dr. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images The Dragon capsule is aiming for an altitude of 335 miles - about 75 miles higher than the International Space Station. Inspiration4 mission commander Jared Isaacman paid an undisclosed sum to Musk’s SpaceX for the flight. The Dragon capsule is aiming for an altitude of 335 miles - about 75 miles higher than the International Space Station and on a level with the Hubble Space Telescope. The 38-year-old Isaacman, who has an estimated net worth of $2.4 billion, paid an undisclosed sum to Musk’s SpaceX for the flight aboard the company’s Crew Dragon capsule atop a reusable Falcon 9 rocket. Jared Isaacman, the founder and CEO of e-commerce firm Shift4 Payments who’s also an accomplished jet pilot, will lead the trip, which will blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, spend three days in orbit and then splashdown somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

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NASA’s winning private sector turn shows gov’t can get far more for taxpayers’ buckĮlon Musk’s SpaceX this week will launch the next billionaire into space along with three other astro tourists in what is poised to be the first all-civilian crew to reach Earth’s orbit.

Russian space chief who trolled Elon Musk fired by Kremlin Former SpaceX passenger joins Bezos’ Blue Origin as employeeĮlon Musk’s SpaceX to fly Russian cosmonaut to International Space Station: NASA
