Jared Isaacman, 38, and his crewmates – Sian Proctor, 51, Hayley Arceneaux, 29, and Chris Sembroski, 42 – had earlier all strolled out of a SpaceX hangar waving to cheering crowds. The launch made history with the first all-civilian crew
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has made history as the world’s first all-civilian crew successfully launched into Earth’s orbit on Wednesday. The launch was made from Cape Canaveral’s Kennedy Space Centre.
Jared Isaacman (38), along with his crewmates Sian Perctor (51), Hayley Archeneaux (29), & Chris Sembroski (42), had previously all made their way out of a SpaceX Hangar waving to cheering crowds, family, friends, and well-wishers.
SpaceX broadcast the launch live on the web. The four astronauts were seen strapping into the cabin of their white SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, nicknamed Resilience. They were wearing their black-and-white flight suits and their helmets.
The capsule, which was atop a Falcon 9 rocket that can be reused twice, took off at 8:03 p.m. local time. It was fitted with an observation dome instead of its regular docking hatch and so it soared into the Florida skies.
The flight, with no professional astronauts accompanying SpaceX’s paying customers, is expected to last about three days from liftoff to splashdown in the Atlantic.
“Everything is go for launch,” John Insprucker was SpaceX’s principal integrator shortly before launch.
Jared Isaacman (38), and his crewmates Sian Perctor (51), Hayley Arkeneaux (29), Chris Sembroski (42), had all made their way out of a SpaceX hangar waving and joking with cheering crowds.
From there they were driven in two vehicles across the space center complex to a support building, where they donned the black-and-white spacesuits.
The crew headed to the launchpad to board the white SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. This was fitted with an observation dome and a Falcon 9 rocket reusable, which is a company-owned rocket. This was Elon Musk’s first flight in his new orbital tourism venture.
Mr. Isaacman paid an undisclosed sum to fellow billionaire Musk to send himself and his three crewmates aloft. Time magazine stated that all four seats cost $200 million. Mr. Isaacman designed the mission, Inspiration4, to raise awareness for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This is a prominent pediatric cancer center in Memphis, Tennessee.
Inspiration4 is aiming for an orbital altitude of 360 miles (575 km) above Earth, higher than the International Space Station or Hubble Space Telescope.
The Crew Dragon will orbit the Earth once per 90 minutes at 17,000 miles an hour (27.360 kph), which is roughly 22 times faster than sound.