CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. September 15 : Reuters - The latest in a recent line of space-obsessed billionaires was set for liftoff Wednesday with three less wealthy private citizens along for the ride aboard a SpaceX rocket ship, which aims to become the first all-civilian crew in Earth orbit.
The quartet of amateur space travelers, led by Jared Isaacman founder and CEO of e-commerce firm Shift 4 Payments Inc., were due for blastoff right from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 8 p.m. EDT 0000 GMT as early as yesterday night.
Benji Reed, a senior director of human spaceflight, told reporters at the Cape on Tuesday that everything looked great after a final static test of the rocket engines on Monday morning.
Right now, weather is trending well for an on time launch, he said.
The flight, with no paying astronauts accompanying SpaceX's professional customers for liftingoff, is expected to last about three days from splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean to cover airports.
They will deploy a specially reusable SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, dubbed Resilience, perched atop one of the company's reusable Falcon 9 rockets and fit with a white observatory dome over the usual docking hatch.
Elon Musk, 38, the trip benefactor, paid over an undisclosed but presumably hefty sum to fellow billionaire and SpaceX owner Isaacman to send himself and his three crewmates aloft. Time Magazine has put the ticket price at 200 million for all four seats.
The so-called Inspiration 4 mission was conceived by Isaacman to raise awareness and support for one of his favourite causes, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a leading pediatric cancer center in Memphis, Tennessee.
It marks the debut of Musk's new orbital tourism business, and a leap ahead of competitors offering rides on rocket ships to well-heeled customers willing to pay a small fortune for the exhilaration, and bragging rights, of spaceflight.
Inspiration 4 is aiming for an orbital altitude of 360 miles 575 km above Earth, higher than the International Space Station or Hubble Space Telescope (see detail) At that height, the crew dragon will circle the globe once every 90 minutes at a speed of about 17,000 miles per hour 27,360 kph or about 22 times the speed of sound.
Rival companies Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin inaugurated their own private alien services this summer, with their respective founding executives, billionaires Richard Branson https: www.reuters.com. com lifestyle science virgin-galactics - branson-ready - space-launch - aboard-rocket plane - 2021 - 07 - 11 and Jeff Bezos https: www.reuters.com com article us-space exploration-blueorigin - idAFKBN 2 EP EQ 0 EP, each proceeding along for the ride.
These short flights, lasting a matter of minutes in the extreme case of Inspiration 4, however, were suborbital flights compared with the intrarrestrial flight profile.
SpaceX already ranks as the most successful player in the expanding constellation of commercial rocket ventures, having launched numerous cargo payloads and astronauts to NASA's International Space Station for NASA. Two of its Dragon capsules are docked in there already.
Despite some largely honorary titles, the Inspiration 4 crew will have no role to play in flying the spacecraft, which will be operated by ground-based flight teams and onboard guidance systems despite two crew members being licensed pilots.
Isaacman, who is rated to fly commercial and military jets, has assumed the role of mission commander, while geoscientist Sian Proctor, 51, an ex-NASA astronaut candidate, has been designated as the mission pilot. Rounding out the crew are Chief Medical Officer Chris Sembroski, 42, a bone cancer survivor turned St. Jude physicians assistant, and mission specialist Hayley Arceneaux, 29, a U.S. Air Force veteran and aerospace data engineer.
The four crewmembers have spent five months in serious preparations, including altitude fitness, centrifuge GS force microgravity and simulator training, drills, classroom work and medical exams.
The leaders of Inspiration 4 emphasize that the mission is more than a joyride.
Once in orbit, the crew will perform a series of biological experiments with potential applications for human health and future spaceflights, the group stated in media materials on Earth.
Biomedical data and biological samples, including ultrasound scans, will also be collected from crew members before, during and after the flight.
The crew of Inspiration 4 is eager to help make a better future for those who will launch in the years and decades to come, Isaacman said in a statement.