By akademiotoelektronik, 03/01/2023

All about Inspiration4, SpaceX's space tourism mission

The Inspiration4 mission will take off on Wednesday. This is the fourth time SpaceX has sent humans into space. The passengers, all novices, will go further than the International Space Station (ISS).

It's SpaceX's turn to embark on space tourism. A rocket from Elon Musk's company is to propel four passengers on Wednesday who will spend three days in space, a very ambitious mission which will be the first in history to send into orbit only complete novices, without any professional astronauts. .

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.

Takeoff is scheduled for Wednesday from 8:00 p.m. on the US East Coast (midnight GMT). 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.

• The ship

At the top of the Falcon 9 rocket, which is 70 meters high, is perched the Dragon capsule, where the crew is. This vessel has already taken 10 astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on three separate missions.

The Dragon capsule (8m high, 4m in diameter) has been modified here: a huge glass dome has been installed to offer passengers a 360° view of the vacuum of space. It replaces the system normally intended to dock with the ISS.

• The flight schedule

Takeoff is due to take place on Wednesday from 8:02 p.m. (00:02 GMT Thursday) from the legendary NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch window is five hours. At about 80 km altitude, the first stage will separate, and will automatically return to land for reuse in the future.

SpaceX did not provide details on the exact course of the flight afterward. During manned flights, the second stage generally separates about ten minutes after takeoff.

The Dragon capsule will then remain in space for three days. It will go further than the ISS, which rotates at an altitude of 400 km, aiming for an orbit of 575 km. It will then begin a vertiginous fall towards the Earth, and will land off the coast of Florida, slowed down by huge parachutes.

“The risk is not zero,” acknowledges Jared Isaacman in one of the episodes of the documentary broadcast by Netflix on the mission. "You are traveling in a ship at 28,000 km/h around the globe. This kind of environment is associated with a certain risk."

• The crew

The mission was chartered by American billionaire Jared Isaacman, who is the captain on board. This 38-year-old financial company boss is a seasoned pilot. This 38-year-old American, married and father of two daughters, is the CEO of the company Shift4 Payments, which offers stores and restaurants a service for processing bank card transactions. He created it when he was 16, from the basement of the family home. Passionate about piloting, he holds a round-the-world jet record and is qualified to fly on military aircraft.

Jared Isaacman decided to offer three seats to anonymous people. These guests embody three values.

Hope. Hayley Arceneaux, 29, is a survivor of childhood cancer, and now works at St Jude Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where she was treated as a child. She will be the medical officer of the mission. She will be the youngest American to be sent into orbit around the Earth and the first person with a prosthetic to go into space.

The young woman works as a medical assistant at St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, a facility for which Jared Isaacman launched a huge fundraiser.

Generosity. Chris Sembroski, 42, is a former US Air Force veteran who now works in the aviation industry. He was selected after making a donation as part of the fundraiser for St Jude's Hospital. Its seat represents generosity. Its role will be to help manage the cargo on board, and communications with Earth.

Prosperity. At 51, Sian Proctor has been a professor of Earth sciences for 20 years. Born in Guam, her father worked at NASA during the Apollo missions. She participated in an experiment in Hawaii simulating life on Mars, and twice applied to NASA to become an astronaut. In 2009, she arrived among the finalists (a few dozen out of more than 3,500 candidates at the start). She will be only the fourth African-American woman to go into space.

She will be the pilot of the mission, assisting the commander. She won her seat by creating an online space-related sales site, as part of an entrepreneur competition organized by Jared Isaacman's company.

• Training

All four trained for just under six months, compared to years for astronauts.

They experimented with the g-force they will be exposed to through a centrifuge -- a rapidly rotating arm several meters long -- and jet flights. 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 (northwestern United States).

Finally, although the flight will normally be fully automated, they have been trained by SpaceX to be able to take control in the event of an emergency.

• The science

During the three days in orbit, their sleep, their heart rate, their blood and their cognitive abilities will be analysed. Tests will be carried out before and after the flight, to study the effect of the trip on their bodies. The 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.

Elon Musk, boss of Space X, believes that humans are destined to become multiplanetary beings. And to become one, Mars is a must. In a 16-page article published in 2017 in the journal New Space, he revealed his timetable, but also the conditions to be met for a successful massive colonization of the red planet.

• The Netflix series

Inspiration4 can be followed in a documentary series on Netflix. Five episodes are planned in total on this mission which represents a new stage for space tourism. Two episodes present the four members of the crew, two others on the training and the final preparations before the flight, and a last, which will be broadcast at the end of September, "just a few days" after the end of the mission.

On the same subject

This final episode will feature images from inside the ship during their journey, as well as their return to Earth, with the promise of "unparalleled access", in "near real time". The series, dubbed Countdown: The Inspiration4 Mission to Space, will be directed by Jason Hehir, the director of the Emmy Award-winning documentary The Last Dance about Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls epic.

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SpaceX

Pascal Samama with AFP