SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft was home to four tourists who had very little footage of their trip around the Earth.
We heard very little from the civilians except for a scheduled broadcast Friday night. This left us with many questions, especially in this era of social media.
Many believed that the unusual silence of the crew was due to the private nature the mission. SpaceX leadership interfered? Or was it a malfunctioning toilet that made the craft's interior too frightening for the public?
Eric Berger, Ars Technica senior reporter for space, wrote in a tweet Friday afternoon that he had received several inquiries about the reason there aren't photos of Inspiration4 after it has orbited. It is a private mission and they choose.
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Spaceflight Now also states that radio transmissions between SpaceX ground control personnel and crew were not made public.
Now, just two days after the capsule safely returned to Earth, we might finally get an answer from the commander of the mission.
We only had so many passes on the ground to transmit video," Jared Isaacman, commander and billionaire donor of the expedition, wrote in an early Monday morning tweet to respond to Bergers original comment.
Friday's live video broadcast had to be transmitted through the International Space Station.
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He said that NASA and other government users will be given priority. It is likely that a lot more footage will soon be available. There were quite a few cameras aboard.
This is a very unusual limitation for the mission given that SpaceX has already sent more than 1,600 Starlink broadband satellites into low Earth orbit. It also shows that space-Earth communications remains a difficult problem despite having near infinite resources.
Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, promised free WiFi next time. He also apologized for the cold pizza.
Musk explained that we would use our Ka parabolics or laser links to Dragon. This refers to the lasers Starlink satellites use for communication. Once they reach cloud level, Starships and other spacecraft are able to communicate with each other.
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It is obvious that internet access in space would be a great way to get more wealthy people to buy tickets to space.
Isaacman promised that we would soon see many more photos and videos from the historic mission. Despite internet being commonplace since 1990s, there is still a lot to be desired in terms of real-time footage.
Private space companies are planning to launch their own satellite communications networks in Earth's orbit. It is not impossible that space comm technologies will soon be given a major overhaul. The one percent who travel in space will surely appreciate it.
READ MORE: Inspiration4 crew shares incredible views from space [Spaceflight Now]
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SpaceX Tourists Face Problems with Space Toilet
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