ELON MUSK made history last night when his SpaceX firm successfully launched the first all civilian space flight.
US civilians Jared Isaacman (top left), Hayley Arceneaux (top right), Sian Proctor (bottom right) and Chris Sembroski took off from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They will remain in orbit for a few more days.
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How long is SpaceX journey and when will Elon Musk’s astronauts return?
SpaceX Inspiration4 launched the astronauts around 8:02pm EDT Wednesday.
SpaceX enthusiasts in the UK could have gotten there at around 1am BST on Thursday.
The Inspiration4 astronauts plan to stay on the mission for three more days before returning to Earth.
The time that the civilian astronauts spend orbiting Earth will be most of their time.
They will then land in the Atlantic Ocean on September 19.
They’re in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. This capsule has been modified to offer great views of Earth.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted the capsule into orbit.
Isaacman, a billionaire, is leading the mission.
Who are the SpaceX civilian Inspiration4 mission crew?
Jared Isaacman, 38 years old, is a billionaire and founder of Shift4Shop Payments.
For the trip to SpaceX owned by Elon Musk (a fellow billionaire), he has paid an unknown but likely deceptive sum.
Dubbed Inspiration4, the mission is designed primarily to raise awareness and support for one of Isaacman’s favorite causes, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a leading pediatric cancer center.
He personally has donated $100million to the institute.
As mission “commander,” Isaacman designated St. Jude physician’s assistant Haley Arceneaux, 29, as his first crewmate.
Hayley is a survivor of bone cancer and a former patient at the Tennessee hospital.
Chris Sembroski from Seattle, an aerospace industry worker and U.S. Air Force Veteran, was later selected.
After participating in a fundraising campaign for St. Jude’s, Sembroski’s friend won the seat.
Sian Proctor (51), a geoscience professor at South Mountain Community College, Phoenix, Arizona was selected separately via an online contest by Shift4 Payments.
Sian Proctor is an entrepreneur, and was once an astronaut candidate for Nasa.
Six months of intensive training was provided to all four, following the same curriculum used by Nasa astronauts to prepare for SpaceX missions.
“When this mission is complete, people are going to look at it and say this was the first time that everyday people could go to space,” Isaacman spoke to reporters previously.
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