Elon Musk s SpaceX announces world s first all-civilian mission to space
The mission, dubbed dubbed Inspiration4, is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of 2021. (File photo: Reuters)
Updated: Feb 2, 2021, 09:08 AM IST
SpaceX announced on Monday that it will launch four private individuals on a Crew Dragon capsule into orbit around the Earth, dubbed as the world s first all-civilian mission.
It is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of 2021. The company s spacecraft would be commanded by Jared Isaacman, the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, who is also a trained pilot.
The mission, dubbed Inspiration4, seeks to raise support for St Jude Children s Research Hospital. One spot on the flight is reserved for a St Jude ambassador, while a second seat will be offered to a member of the public as part of a charity drive during the month of February.
SpaceX opens call for crew members in first ‘all-civilian’ mission
Pilot and tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman will bring three civilians on a space mission to raise money for cancer research.
SpaceX has announced plans to bring an ‘all-civilian’ mission to space for the first time later this year. The mission is expected to take off in Q4 2021 and will be led by Jared Isaacman, a pilot, tech entrepreneur and the founder of Shift4 Payments.
Isaacman is paying for the Inspiration4 flight and will bring three people with him. One of the available seats will be given to an ambassador for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee.
SpaceX aiming for ‘all-civilian’ flight into orbit
AFP, WASHINGTON
SpaceX on Monday said it is this year aiming to launch the first all-civilian mission into Earth’s orbit, led by a tech billionaire who plans to raffle off one of the spots aboard the craft.
Entrepreneur Jared Isaacman is to be joined by three other novice astronauts for a multiday journey into space, including one lucky winner of a drawing.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime adventure: a journey into outer space on the first all-civilian space flight,” a Web site dedicated to the mission said.
A person looks at SpaceX starships SN9, left, and SN10, which are waiting for test flights, as the sun sets at the launch facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, on Monday.
Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies is planning the first all-civilian orbital spaceflight later this year, to be led by a technology entrepreneur who will be joined by three other people. The flight is expected to launch in the fourth quarter, SpaceX and Jared Isaacman said in a statement on Monday. Isaacman, the founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments, a payment processor, said he wants the planned multiday “Inspiration4” flight on SpaceX’s Dragon vehicle to inspire support for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The mission bolsters Musk’s efforts to make human spaceflight more common. SpaceX took a big leap last year with two astronaut missions to the International Space Station for NASA, and a third that’s planned for April. The company has also stepped up efforts to find commercial passengers, and already has plans to to fly Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on a trip around the moon in 2023 aboard its Starship spacecraft.
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SpaceX is to launch the first ever entirely commercial trip to space later this year – and take a lucky member of the public on the trip.
The journey has been commissioned by Jared Iaacman, a US billionaire who made his fortune in tech and fighter jets and says he has been a space geek since he was a child. It is not clear how much he has paid for the journey.
But he has already offered three tickets to other members of the public. One of them will go to a healthcare worker from St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, who has already been selected for the mission, and another will go to a business owner who uses Shift4 payments, the credit card processing company that helped make Mr Isaacman rich.