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SpaceX sends a civilian crew into space for the first time in history

SpaceX today, September 16, made a historic event – for the first time in the history of mankind, the company sent into space a ship with a crew (there are four people on board), which consists entirely of civilians, since no one on the ship is a professional astronaut. The team was sent into space on the Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of the Inspiration4 mission on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle – the launch took place at 03:02 Moscow time in Florida at the NASA launch complex. It is worth noting that, unlike competitors, this is a full-fledged flight into space – the ship will be in Earth’s orbit for three days.

Moreover, the Inspiration4 mission implies finding the Crew Dragon spacecraft at an altitude of 575 kilometers, which means that SpaceX’s development is even at a greater distance from Earth than the International Space Station (it is located at an altitude of 420 kilometers). However, although SpaceX itself calls the crew of the spacecraft completely civil, in fact, this is not entirely true – among the people sent into space, there are still specialists who, even if officially are not astronauts, have the same level of training and even all the necessary skills for piloting the ship and eliminating possible problems.

For example, the flight is headed by billionaire Jared Isaacman, founder of Shift4 Payments, who is the most experienced pilot with decent experience in flying a wide variety of aircraft, including in the upper atmosphere. The crew also includes US Air Force veteran Chris Sembroski, who is also an aerospace engineer, and another experienced pilot, Sian Proctor. The only truly civilian on the ship is Hayley Arsenault, who works as a physician’s assistant at a medical facility.

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