Elon Musk’s Space X will launch four “amateur astronauts” into orbit in another landmark mission for space tourism. This flight comes after Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos‘ trip to space. The mission has been named Inspiration4.
The trip, paid for by US billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman, will have four crewmates. Isaacman will be accompanied by a healthcare worker, a science educator and a data analyst and they will circle the Earth for three days.
Also Read| Rocket ‘terminated’ over Pacific Ocean in an explosive fireball
The crew members want to inspire others and raise money for children’s cancer medicine.
The crew’s Dragon vehicle will ride atop a Falcon-9 rocket. The launch is due from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center at 8:02 p.m. EDT on September 15.
The spacecraft is expected to reach an altitude of 575km (360 miles), about 150km higher than the International Space Station (ISS). The crew will then spend their time doing experiments and looking at Earth through a large domed window which offers panoramic views. The glass dome has replaced mechanism Dragon that is used to dock with the ISS. The flight will end with a splashdown targeted at the Atlantic Ocean.
Also Read | Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launches artwork into space in first unmanned test flight
This flight can bring a major change in commercial spaceflights and can open up many opportunities.
The commander, Jared Isaacman, is the founder and chief executive of Shift4 Payments, a company he started as a teenager.
Isaacman said this will be the first time that a global superpower hasn’t sent people up into orbital space and now common people will have the opportunity to go to space.
Another crew member Hayley Arceneaux is a physician assistant at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr Sian Proctor, 51, is a geoscientist and science communicator. Chris Sembroski, 42, is a US Air Force veteran and works as an engineer with aerospace company Lockheed Martin.