In a few days, four aspiring astronauts will board SpaceX's Resilience spacecraft on Mission Inspiration4, the company's first all-civilian mission. Once in space, the four crew members will be able to enjoy an incredible view of Earth from the capsule's cupola.
The first all-civilian flight in history is due in a few days. The mission, dubbed Inspiration4, is scheduled to take off from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on September 15. Note that the exact take-off time will be determined a few days before launch. In the event of a technical or weather problem, a "backup date" is already set for the next day.
Aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, the crew of four – Jared Isaacman, Sian Proctor, Hayley Arceneaux and Chris Sembroski (learn more here) – will take off for a three-day trip around the Earth at an altitude of about 570 km, which is about 130 km higher than the International Space Station. Purpose:To raise awareness and funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, USA.
For this mission, the four members naturally had to go through a training process. For six months, they chained parabolic flights (zero-g flights), passages in a centrifuge, simulations on board the ship, studies in the classroom and other medical examinations.
They also climbed Mount Ranier. Professional astronauts are indeed also accustomed to this type of getaway. The goal is to place the crew in an environment that forces them to work together to face unexpected obstacles, thus promoting group cohesion.
Once in space, remember that crew members will also be able to enjoy a breathtaking view of Earth thanks to an observation dome installed for the occasion instead of the usual docking adapter at the front of the ship. On September 1, everyone posed inside before the structure was sent to Cape Canaveral to be integrated into the capsule.
For those interested, the development of this mission is also the subject of a documentary called Countdown:Inspiration4 Mission to Space , which Netflix produced in partnership with Time Warner. This will be the very first documentary produced by the platform to cover such an event in near real time.
The miniseries will have five episodes . The first two episodes (both airing September 6) will introduce audiences to the four astronauts. On September 13, the third and fourth episodes will show how the crew has spent the last six months training for the mission. The launch of Inspiration4 will then be streamed live on Netflix's YouTube channel.
Finally in the fifth and final episode, airing on September 30, viewers will be able to appreciate for themselves what the astronauts saw as they orbited the Earth for three days.
