CAPE CANAVERAL (Florida, US), Sept 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — SpaceX launched its Inspiration4 mission on Wednesday evening from NASA’s facility in Florida, successfully bringing its all-civilian crew into orbit.
The mission is the first private crew launched to orbit by Elon Musk’s company and the first time a crew was made up entirely of nonprofessional astronauts.
Inspiration4 includes commander Jared Isaacman, pilot Sian Proctor, medical officer Hayley Arceneaux, and mission specialist Chris Sembroski.
The multiday trip was paid for by Isaacman for an undisclosed amount, with the main goal of the spaceflight to raise $200 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The Inspiration4 crew, riding in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, successfully reached orbit after launching on Wednesday evening.
SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell in a statement heralded the mission as “paving the way for a future where space is more accessible to all who wish to go.”
“We are so proud that they entrusted us to fly them,” Shotwell said. “On behalf of all SpaceX employees, I want to thank the crew and their families for allowing us to be a part of their historic mission.”
The crew of four — Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor, Chris Sembroski — will spend about three days in orbit before returning, with Crew Dragon capsule “Resilience” planning to splashdown off the coast of Florida. — NNN-AGENCIES
