SpaceX sends four civilians into orbit. The Inspiration4 mission has started

The SpaceX mission “Inspiration4”, the first space mission with a crew of only four private citizens without any previous astronaut training, started in the Italian night. For the next three days, the four “civilians” aboard the Crew Dragon will travel in low earth orbit, flying over 90% of the inhabited land of planet Earth

The Insiration4 space mission, the first in the world entirely civilized by SpaceX, left at 8 pm (2 am in Italy). On board the Crew Dragon “Resilience” that now orbits over our heads, in fact, there are four people who have never carried out any specific training as an astronaut, other than that given by SpaceX in view of the mission. Of the four people on board, only one is a billionaire, the venture’s financier Jared Isaacman. The other three are “normal” people (at least by the standards that astronauts have accustomed us to): geoscientist Sian Proctor, engineer Christopher Sembroski and Dr. Hayley Arceneaux (the first person in space with a prosthesis). Each of the four crew members was assigned a call sign for communications during the mission: “Rook” for Isaacman, “Leo” for Proctor, “Nova” for Arcenaux and “Hanks” for Sembroski “Hanks”.

Inspiration4 has left Earth from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A, the embarkation point for the Apollo and Space Shuttle missions, and for the next three days it will travel overhead flying in low Earth orbit, possibly even higher. of the International Space Station (which is about 390 kilometers high). The four crew members were selected by SpaceX on the basis of four different human characteristics that well represent the spirit with which the earthlings are facing the future of space exploration: leadership, prosperity, generosity and hope.

The mission’s goal is completely new in the space exploration landscape: not scientific research but charity. In fact, the purpose of Inspiration4 is to raise 200 million in funds for childhood cancer research conducted by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the most advanced centers in the world. Anyone can somehow “finance” this space mission by sending their donation. Beyond the nice gesture, SpaceX revolutionizes space once again, no longer a frontier, but an absolutely familiar place for both those who leave and those who remain on the ground, which can feel much more involved in the new space age of humanity than it is. it could do so earlier with missions run by state space agencies.