The most ambitious leap yet in space tourism; SpaceX’s first private trip raced into orbit on Wednesday night. It was with two contest winners, a health care worker, and their wealthy sponsor. SpaceX sends 4 amateurs on a trip to encircle the earth. It was the first time a spacecraft encircled the Earth with an all-amateur crew rather than professional astronauts.
Moments before liftoff, the flight’s millionaire leader, Jared Isaacman, exhorted, “Punch it, SpaceX!”
The Dragon capsule’s two men and two women intend to fly around the planet for three days. It is from an extraordinarily high orbit — 100 miles (160 kilometers) higher than the International Space Station — before splashing down off the Florida coast this weekend.
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, is making his first pitch for money from space tourism.
SpaceX sends 4 amateurs: More about them
Following the brief space-skimming flights by Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson and Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos in July, Isaacman is the third billionaire to launch this summer. Isaacman is only 38 years old. He made his money through a payment-processing company he founded when he was in his teens. Hayley Arceneaux, 29, a childhood bone cancer survivor who works as a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, accompanied Isaacman on the Inspiration4 trip. He has donated $100 million to the hospital out of his own money. Also, he is seeking another $100 million in donations.
Arceneaux was the first person in space with a prosthetic, a titanium rod in her left leg. Also, he is the youngest American in space.
Sweepstakes winners Chris Sembroski, 42 is a data engineer from Everett, Washington. Sian Proctor, 51 is a community college lecturer from Tempe, Arizona, are also be on board.
NASA, which once opposed space tourism, is now a backer. When NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, then a congressman, took a ride on a space shuttle decades ago, he tweeted, “Low-Earth orbit is now more accessible for more individuals to experience the wonders of space.”
The Falcon rocket took off from the same Kennedy Space Center launch pad as the company’s previous three NASA astronaut flights. The Dragon capsule, on the other hand, was aiming for a height of 357 miles (575 kilometers), just beyond the Hubble Space Telescope.
“Many are about to follow. The door’s opening now and it’s pretty incredible”
Employees at SpaceX’s Hawthorne, California, headquarters erupted in applause at every mission milestone. It includes when the first-stage booster landed upright on an ocean platform. French astronaut Thomas Pesquet rooted from the space station on Twitter: “No matter if you’re a professional or not when you get strapped to a rocket and launch into space, we have something in common. All the very best from, well, space.”
Isaacman noted upon reaching orbit that few people have been to space — fewer than 600 over 60 years. But he added, “Many are about to follow. The door’s opening now and it’s pretty incredible.”
Their capsule has already traveled to space. It was utilized for SpaceX’s second human voyage to the International Space Station on behalf of NASA. The big domed glass at the top, which replaces the typical space station docking systems, is the only notable difference.
Isaacman, a qualified pilot, encouraged SpaceX to launch the completely automated Dragon capsule to new heights. After a safety analysis, SpaceX consented after initially being hesitant due to increased radiation exposure and other dangers.
“Now I just wish we pushed them to go higher,” Isaacman told reporters on the eve of the flight. “If we’re going to go to the moon again and we’re going to go to Mars and beyond, then we’ve got to get a little outside of our comfort zone and take the next step in that direction.”
Isaacman’s Shift4 Payments company is based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It is footing the bill for the entire journey. But he won’t tell how much it cost him. He and others believe that the high prices will eventually come down.
“Yes, today you must have and be willing to part with a large amount of cash to buy yourself a trip to space,” said Explorers Club President Richard Garriott, a NASA astronaut’s son. He paid the Russians for a space station trip more than a decade ago. “But this is the only way we can get the price down and expand access, just as it has been with other industries before it.
“Someday NASA astronauts will be the exception, not the rule”
The capsule is fully automated. The four Dragon riders spent six months preparing for the voyage to deal with any eventuality. SpaceX sends 4 amateurs for training and preparing as well. Flights in a centrifuge and fighter jet, launch, and reentry practice in SpaceX’s capsule simulator, and a tough snow climb up Washington’s Mount Rainier were all part of the training.
Four hours before liftoff, the four met with Musk before exiting SpaceX’s massive rocket hangar, waving and kissing their families and coworkers before being whisked away to put in their sleek white flight suits. They posed for photos and bumped gloved fists at the launch pad before taking the elevator up. As she made her way to the hatch, Proctor danced.
The public will not be able to listen in or watch events unfold in real-time, unlike NASA missions. Arceneaux intends to connect with patients at St. Jude, but the discussion will not be live.
A retired NASA astronaut will lead three affluent businessmen to the space station for a weeklong visit on SpaceX’s next private expedition, which will take place early next year. In the coming months, the Russians will send an actress, a film director, and a Japanese billionaire to the space station.
“Someday NASA astronauts will be the exception, not the rule,” said Cornell University’s Mason Peck, an engineering professor who served as NASA’s chief technologist nearly a decade ago. “But they’ll likely continue to be the trailblazers the rest of us will follow.”