The Elon Musk-owned SpaceX is all set to launch the four-person civilian crew into space for a three-day mission on Wednesday.
Led by American billionaire Jared Isaacman, the 38-year-old founder and CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payment, it may not be the first mission to space for civilians – that feat has already been achieved in July this year by Virgin Galactic and its owner Richard Branson and followed a few days later by Blue Origin and its owner Jeff Bezos – but it will become is the first to orbit the Earth.
The ‘Inspiration4’ mission is a flight chartered by Isaacman, who is a seasoned pilot. The exact price he paid SpaceX hasn’t been disclosed.
The mission is far more ambitious in scope than the few weightless minutes Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin customers can buy. The SpaceX Crew Dragon will be flying further than the orbit of the International Space Station.
“The risk is not zero,” said Isaacman in an episode of a Netflix documentary about the mission.
“You’re riding a rocket at 17,500 miles (28,000 kilometers) per hour around the Earth. In that kind of environment there are risks.”
Lift-off is scheduled for Wednesday from 3am UAE rime (2000 Eastern time) from launch pad 39A, at NASA’s Kennedy Center in Florida, from where the Apollo missions to the Moon took off.
Three non-public figures were selected for the voyage via a process that was first advertised at the Super Bowl in February, reports AFP.
Each crew member was picked to represent a pillar of the mission.
The youngest, Hayley Arceneaux, is a childhood bone cancer survivor, who represents ‘hope’.
She will become the first person with a prosthetic to go to space. The 29-year-old was picked because she works as a Physician Assistant in Memphis for St. Jude’s Hospital, the charitable beneficiary of Inspiration4.
Chris Sembroski, 42, is a former US Air Force veteran who now works in the aviation industry and secured the seat of ‘generosity’. The last seat, representing ‘prosperity’, was offered to Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old earth science professor who, in 2009, narrowly missed out on becoming a NASA astronaut. She will be only the fourth African American woman to go to space.
Even though the flight itself will be fully autonomous, the crew’s training lasted months and included experiencing high G force on a centrifuge, and completing a high altitude, snowy trek on Mount Rainier.
