‘X-men’ blast into space
SpaceX tourists raise $270m for charity by boldly going around the Earth
MIAMI: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying four space tourists has blasted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida for the first mission to orbit the globe with an allcivilian crew.
A huge fireball illuminated the sky as the rocket’s nine engines began to pull away from Earth. About 12 minutes later, the Dragon capsule separated from the rocket’s send stage as the crew entered orbit, while the reusable first stage made its way back to Earth for a vertical landing on a sea barge.
“A few have gone before and many are about to follow,” said Jared Isaacman, the 38year-old billionaire who chartered the flight.
The spaceship’s trajectory will take it to an altitude of 575km, which is deeper into space than the International Space Station.
After spending three days spinning around the planet, the four-person crew, all Americans, will splash down off the Florida coast.
“The #Inspiration4 launch reminds us of what can be accomplished when we partner with private industry,” tweeted NASA administrator Bill Nelson ahead of the launch.
Building up commercial capability has been the vision of NASA’s commercial crew program since it was founded in 2011.
SpaceX hasn’t disclosed what the trip cost Mr Isaacman, a high school dropout who went on to found Shift4 Payments and is also a keen aviator. But the price tag runs into tens of millions of dollars.
Mr Isaacman’s three crewmates were selected through a competition, and their stories have been followed in a Netflix documentary.
Hayley Arceneaux, a paediatric cancer survivor, is a 29year-old physician assistant. She will be the youngest American to go into orbit and the first person with a prosthesis, on a part of her femur.
Chris Sembroski, 42, is a US Air Force veteran who works as an aerospace data engineer.
Sian Proctor, 51, was almost selected to become an astronaut for NASA in 2009. She is only the fourth African-American woman to go to space.
The mission aims to raise $US200m ($270m) for a children’s hospital where Ms Arceneaux was treated as a child.
SpaceX is owned by Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, who has a vision for humanity to be able to inhabit other planets.