Inspiration4 Crew Returns to Earth, Swimming in the Atlantic Off Florida Coast
Click to enlarge the image and toggle caption AP
SpaceX's Elon Musk set yet another aerospace record Wednesday by sending Inspiration4, an all-civilian mission into orbit, into space. The crew returned to Earth after having circled the planet 45 times in three days.
At 7:07 p.m., the Dragon spacecraft and its crew came down in the Atlantic Ocean just off the Florida coast. ET Saturday. SpaceX stated that the spacecraft had earlier performed two burns to lower its altitude to 226 miles from the Earth's surface.
Dragon deployed its parachute system at 7:04 p.m. and decelerated from 17,500 mph to safely descend to Earth before splashing down.
Jared Isaacman is a pilot and an aeronautical businessman. He is the Inspiration4 team commander. Isaacman donated three seats to the public and paid SpaceX $500,000 for the private mission. Hayley Arceneaux was a St. Jude Children's Research Hospital physician assistant; Chris Sembroski was an aerospace data engineer; Sian Proctor was a pilot and geoscientist.
Inspiration4's mission is to study the human body from space, and raise $200 million to support children living with cancer or other life-threatening illnesses through St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
SpaceX announced that the Dragon spacecraft was the first private spacecraft capable of taking humans to the International Space Station. It has successfully completed 27 launches. It can carry seven passengers and "significant quantities of cargo" into space.
The Inspiration4 brought along a variety of unique items to help with fundraising efforts. These will be later auctioned. One of these items is a previously unreleased song by Kings of Leon, on a non-fungible token. It was to be played in orbit. Samuel Adams will also be aboard the craft with 66 pounds hops.
