JawaPos.com You don’t need to be a trained astronaut to be able to explore outer space. SpaceX can provide that opportunity. That is, around the earth’s orbit. Not just a few minutes, but for several days. The first mission of “tourism” in space by a crew of all civilians was held on Wednesday (15/9).
The SpaceX Falcon 9 spacecraft lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 8:02 p.m. local time. About 12 minutes later, the Dragon capsule carrying four amateur astronauts separated from the rocket and entered orbit. They will circle the earth for three days. They fly on a track with an altitude of 575 kilometers.
The four lucky people in the capsule are Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski, and Sian Proctor. The flight mission was named Inspiration4. The four of them underwent intensive training on SpaceX for six months before finally flying into space. Later they landed in Florida waters. SpaceX has made several landings in the ocean.
The mission this time was financed by Isaacman. The billionaire got his fortune from a system to process credit card payments that he developed as a teenager. The other three were those who inspired Isaacman. Arceneaux was a cancer survivor as a child.
The 29-year-old now works as a medical assistant at the place she was treated, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Isaacman promised to donate USD 100 million (Rp 1.4 trillion) from his own pocket to the hospital. Through the Aspiration4 mission, he encourages others to donate the same amount as his donation.
Proctor is a geologist and communicator. He actually almost became a NASA astronaut in 2009, but failed in the final selection round. Proctor won his chair for his role as an artist.
He planned to paint while looking out the window of the Dragon capsule. Sembroski, on the other hand, won through a raffle of people who donated at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
He is a US air force veteran working as an aerospace data engineer.
“Some (civilian) people have gone before (in space) and there will be many more to follow,” Isaacman was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse regarding his travels.
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