Healthy, relaxed and happy: this is how the 4 space tourists who have spent three days in space without the help of professional astronauts have returned to Earth. Quite a milestone.
We do not know if it was something intentional, or had already planned for a long time. But SpaceX just punched the table, putting Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic in their place. 10 minutes in space 100 kilometers high? SpaceX has put 4 tourists in orbit for 3 days, 585 kilometers high.
The Inspiration4 mission, the first in history made up solely of space tourists, without professional astronauts, was successfully completed this morning, when Falcon 9’s Crew Dragon module landed in the Atlantic Ocean.
It is the first time in more than 50 years that a space capsule has landed in this sea, since 1969. Most of the landings are usually made in the Gulf of Mexico. Here you can see the whole trip back to Earth.
The mission Inspiration4 has been paid in full by the billionaire Jared isaacman, businessman and professional pilot, who invited geoscientist Sian Proctor, medical assistant Haley Arceneaux and data engineer Chris Sembroski.
They are not professional astronauts, but without a doubt they are people trained to fly into space. And it wasn’t just getting in and getting into the rocket. They have spent 6 months training and evaluating possible emergency missions.
Everything has gone perfectly. Only one of them suffered dizziness during take-off, but that also happens to some professional astronauts.
During the mission they did not suffer any major problems, other than a toilet fan failure, and a temperature alarm.
The mission Inspiration4 has passed 3 days in space orbiting the Earth to nothing less than 585 kilometers high, leaving the 100 km of Blue Origin small. They have even surpassed the International Space Station, which orbits at about 480 kilometers high, by 100 kilometers.
In this time space tourists have basically dedicated themselves to what tourists do: see the landscape, and talk on your mobile with your friends and people from a hospital. Although they have also carried out some medical experiment.
The mission had a charitable nature: raise $ 200 million for a North American hospital. The mission’s own patron, Jared Isaacman, contributed 100 million, and Elon Musk another 50 million.
Inspiration4 is a milestone because it shows that space is not just for military (virtually all NASA astronauts are), or to scientists and government missions.
SpaceX intends to launch at least six tourist missions a year. The space tourism era (of moments, only for rich people), has begun.