By akademiotoelektronik, 24/11/2022
4 tourists will spend 3 days in space: the first SpaceX tourist flight takes off tomorrow
After Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk will in turn launch a rocket into space with civilians on board. A flight that will last three days marks the first step in the democratization of space tourism.550. This is the exact number of human beings who have gone into space in the history of mankind. They will be - if all goes well - four more this Wednesday. It is this September 15 at 8 p.m. (2 a.m. French time) that SpaceX will in turn embark on space tourism.
A rocket from Elon Musk's company is to propel four passengers who will spend three days in space, a very ambitious mission that will be the first in history to send only complete novices into orbit, without any professional astronaut.
Baptized Inspiration4, this mission should conclude a summer marked by the flight of billionaires over the final frontier: first Richard Branson on July 11, aboard the Virgin Galactic ship, then a few days later Jeff Bezos, with his company Blue Origin.
The mission has nothing to do with the experience of only a few minutes offered by Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin. This time, it's about going to fly further than the International Space Station (ISS) and stay 3 days in space.
Elon Musk's company has already transported no less than ten astronauts to the ISS on behalf of NASA. But they will be the first private passengers to board the Dragon capsule, launched by the Falcon 9 rocket. The capsule and the launcher will be the same as those used by Thomas Pesquet and his crew on April 23.
Astronauts will spend three days in space aboard the Crew Dragon capsule. While Richard Branson had reached an altitude of 80 km and Jeff Bezos 107 km, SpaceX's flight will be at a much larger orbit, even higher than that of the ISS station. It is around 540 km altitude that the four astronauts will orbit, a distance which had not been reached since the last maintenance mission of the Hubbble satellite in 2009. At the end of these three days in orbit, the astronauts should land in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida.
Where will the rocket take off from?
Takeoff is scheduled for Wednesday from 8 p.m. on the US East Coast. Another launch opportunity is planned for Thursday if weather conditions dictate. Passengers will take off from legendary launch pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Center in Florida, where the Apollo missions to the Moon took off.
Who are the four people who will fly?
It will be a fully automated flight. Passengers should not touch the cockpit instruments.
The billionaire SpaceX tourist will be named Jared Isaacman, 38-year-old American, boss of a financial services company and seasoned pilot. He will be the captain on the trip.
But he didn't start the company to make the trip. He simply rents the services, for a price which has not been disclosed but which is in the tens of millions of dollars.
The other three astronauts are anonymous people selected via an advertisement projected during halftime at the Super Bowl, the biggest American sporting event. Each seat must embody a value.
"Hope" is embodied by Hayley Arceneaux, survivor of childhood cancer. A 29-year-old medical assistant, she will be the first person with a prosthesis to go into space. In a Netflix documentary devoted to the expedition, she assures us that she knows nothing about this universe.
"Generosity" is embodied by Chris Sembroski, 42, a former US Air Force veteran who now works in the aviation industry.
The last seat represents "prosperity" and was offered to Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old professor of Earth sciences who, in 2009, almost became an astronaut for NASA. She will be only the fourth African-American woman to go into space.
What preparation?
The crew has been training for several months. They experienced the g-force to which they will be exposed thanks to a centrifuge. On board parabolic flights, they were able to experience a feeling of weightlessness. They also made a trek in the snow at high altitude on Mount Rainier, in the North-West of the United States.
Finally, they spent time on SpaceX's premises, even though the flight would normally remain fully automated.
During the three days in orbit, their sleep, their heart rate, their blood and their cognitive abilities will be analyzed. Tests will be carried out before and after the flight, to study the effect of the trip on their bodies.
On the same subjectThe idea is to accumulate data for future private passengers. Because the stated goal of the mission is to open the doors of space to a greater number - although these remain for the moment only half-open for a privileged few.
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