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SpaceX sent four tourists into space. The civilian crew will stay in orbit for three days

SpaceX has launched four space tourists into space – this is the company’s first mission with exclusively civilians on board, not a single real astronaut among them. It was named Inspiration4.

SpaceX sent four tourists into space.  The civilian crew will stay in orbit for three days

The Falcon 9 rocket was launched yesterday from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida at 8:02 pm local time. Approximately nine minutes after launch, the first stage separated and returned to the barge in the Atlantic Ocean. A few minutes later, the second stage separated from the Crew Dragon. For the next hour and a half, the capsule gradually ascended into a given orbit due to periodic engine starts. Interestingly, this Crew Dragon is being reused: about a year ago, it delivered four astronauts to the ISS. But the Inspiration4 mission does not imply docking with the ISS – space tourists will spend three days in Earth orbit at an altitude of about 580 km.

SpaceX sent four tourists into space.  The civilian crew will stay in orbit for three days

Inside the spacecraft is billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, founder of payment processing company Shift4 Payments, Hayley Arceneaux, 29-year-old medical assistant, Christopher Sembroski, data engineer at Lockheed Martin, and Sian Proctor, a geologist and former NASA astronaut candidate.

SpaceX sent four tourists into space.  The civilian crew will stay in orbit for three days

The purpose of the mission on Earth is not entertainment at all: it raises funds for St. Jude’s Hospital, a nonprofit research center that provides free care for children with cancer. Isaacman donated $ 100 million to the hospital, and the plan is to raise about the same. Isaacman also paid for the rest of the crew’s seats. How much it cost him is not reported, but usually about $ 55 million is asked for one place.

The crew will have to entertain themselves on their own during the three-day stay in orbit. Sembrosky will reportedly play ukulele, and Proctor has brought along poetry of his own. At the same time, the entire team is participating in the study of the effects of microgravity on the human body: biological samples were taken from the crew before the mission, and they will also collect biomedical data while in space. This data will most likely be needed later when people are sent to the Moon and Mars.

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