SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, carrying four citizens, plunged through the Earth's atmosphere Saturday night. It splashed down just off the east coast Florida, concluding the company's first all-civilian mission to space. The Inspiration4 crew consisted of Jared Isaacman, Sian Proctor, Haley Arceneaux, data engineer Chris Sembroski, and Sian Proctor, a billionaire spaceflight funder. They were joined by geoscientist Sian, Haley Arceneaux, geoscientist Sian, and Haley Arceneaux.
It was an amazing ride.
Crew Dragon splashdown zone was located in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 30 miles east NASAs Kennedy Space Center. This is where SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launched them to space on Wednesday. Crew Dragon deployed two sets parachutes, one set of two and one set of four, to aid its descent towards the ocean. It began at 7:02 PM ET. At 7:06 PM ET, Splashdown took place. SpaceX recovery teams raced in boats towards the capsule to rescue the crew.
SpaceX was amazing, we had a great time, Isaacman said to SpaceXs mission control after we got down.
The Inspiration4 mission took 71 hours from Wednesday's launch at 8:02 PM ET to Saturday's splashdown. The orbital trek had two objectives: raise $200 million for St. Jude Childrens Hospital (a non-profit that researches cancer and provides free care to children with other life-threatening illnesses) and conduct a scientific investigation on the effects of microgravity on the bodies of passengers. St. Jude reported that St. Jude has raised approximately $20 million since Wednesday's launch, which puts the total fundraising at $153 million of its $200million goal.
SpaceXs Crew Dragon, with its amateur crew, began its fully autonomous reentry at 6:11PM ET. It then ditched its trunk to fire a series of thrusters to lift itself out of orbit and into the Earth's atmosphere. Sembroski was able to enjoy some entertainment in flight via a live video feed. An iPad was strapped to his knee.
The crew's return to Earth was uneventful. Due to the plasma sheath that forms around the capsule in turbulent atmospheric reentry, they experienced a communication blackout lasting approximately seven minutes with SpaceX's mission control in California. The spacecraft's exterior reached temperatures up to 3,500 F, but crew members were kept cool inside their capsules by the reinforced air conditioning and flight suits. Crew Dragon flew across the sky above northeast South America, zooming toward Cape Canaveral.
The capsule slowed down from 350 MPH to 100 MPH when the initial parachutes were deployed. These parachutes were removed at nearly 1,800ft, and replaced with four main parachutes. This helped slow down the spacecraft to approximately 15 MPH at splashdown.
About half an hour after the capsule had splashed down, it was lifted out of water and placed on SpaceX's Go Searcher boat. The crew will then be evacuated, checked by medical personnel, and flown back to the ground in a helicopter.
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