Inspiration4, run by tech billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has launched its first all-civilian mission to orbit on Wednesday.
SpaceX’s charity-driven mission named Inspiration4 lifted off On Wednesday, September 15 at 8:02 p.m. EDT, 00:02 UTC on September 16 aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Inspiration4 is commanded by Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments and an accomplished pilot and adventurer. Joining him are Medical Officer Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and pediatric cancer survivor; Mission Specialist Chris Sembroski, an Air Force veteran and aerospace data engineer; and Mission Pilot Dr. Sian Proctor, a geoscientist, entrepreneur, and trained pilot.
Inspiration4, the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit commanded by Jared Isaacman, the 38-year-old founder and Chief Executive Officer of Shift4 Payments and an accomplished pilot and adventurer. Named in recognition of the four-person crew that will raise awareness and funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, this milestone represents a new era for human spaceflight and exploration, according to SpaceX.
SpaceX is targeting a five-hour launch window. The crew will orbit Earth aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule every 90 minutes along a customized flight path.
The three-day mission will target approximately a 575 km orbit, flying farther from Earth than any human spaceflight since the Hubble Space Telescope repair missions.
Upon conclusion of the three-day journey, Dragon and the Inspiration4 crew will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere for soft water landing off the coast of Florida.
Watch Inspiration4 Launch:
A global media for the latest news, entertainment, music fashion, and more.
