- The crew of the Inspiration4 mission launched on Wednesday by SpaceX, shared the first photos from their first day orbiting the earth.
- The crew shared images of floating in zero gravity inside the capsule and spoke to patients of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital about their experience so far in space
- The crew also shared breathtaking images taken from the Crew Dragon Resilience capsule’s massive window which was modified by SpaceX for the astronauts
SpaceX created history by launching a first of its kind “all civilian mission to orbit the planet Earth” called Inspiration4. The mission kicked off on Wednesday, the 15th of September with the launch at pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral in Florida, on the East coast of the USA. The four-member crew launched into space and are scheduled to spend three days orbiting the Earth. SpaceX’s innovative Crew Dragon capsule Resilience will be their home for the time duration. At the end of their journey, they’ll come back to Earth with a splashdown capsule, landing in the Atlantic ocean.
Who are the crew on board?
The Inspiration4 mission has attained its glory in the fact that the four-member crew travelling to space are untrained civilians. The mission has opened doors of space tourism for the common man as the interesting faces onboard have also set a number of records with this spaceflight on a personal front.
The four-member crew consists of
This Inspiration4 mission is funded by American billionaire Jared Issacman. He is also among the four recruits making the voyage as commander. He spoke at length about his aim to raise funds for St Jude’s Children Research hospital with his gesture.
He is joined by Christopher Sembroski, an American data engineer and an Air Force veteran, who acts as the mission specialist.
Next, we have Sian Proctor. She is an American geology professor. She is the acting pilot. She became the first black female pilot of a spaceflight.
And lastly, Hayley Arceneaux, who works as a physician assistant at St Jude’s Children Research Hospital. She acts as the medical officer for her crew. She became the first woman with a prosthetic body part to go to space and also the youngest American citizen to orbit the Earth.
Updates from the first day in space
The four astronauts made a video call to Earth today on 17th September. This call was publicly broadcasted and also tweeted by the SpaceX official handle. It portrays the crew floating around in zero gravity in the Crew Dragon capsule approximately at an altitude of 585 kilometres, making it the highest altitude humans have travelled.
The crew gave us a piece of their view of space with a glimpse through the Resilience Capsule’s massive dome-shaped window called the cupola. This window was purposefully modified by SpaceX by replacing the capsule’s traditional docking hatch to offer a better view of the Earth to our astronauts.
Hayley Acreneaux, the acting medical officer, is engaging the crew in a few scientific experiments which will be of great value to future space travellers. She has been using an ultrasound device to study how gravity causes shifts in her crew member’s body fluids. Also, she has been directing her fellow members to take swabs of different parts of their bodies to study the normal microorganisms present and how their constitution changes over the course of their three-day journey in space.
Sian Proctor who is a famed artist put her creative talents on display by making art in space. She used metallic markers to draw a picture of the Crew Dragon capsule being carried away from earth by an actual dragon. She also shared her experience of using such technology to create art.
Chris Sembroski appeared to be another art enthusiast on board as he played a tune on his ukulele for the entranced audience on Earth. He commented on the need to open up space to the ever-growing frontiers of art and music.
The crew also engaged in a video call session with the children at the St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital. They answered a lot of interesting questions regarding life in space for the enthusiastic children. St. Jude’s released the video on their official Twitter handle. The Inspiration4 mission aims to raise 200 million dollars in donations for the hospital where Hayley Acreneaux was herself treated aged 10 as a survivor of bone cancer.
The crew apparently also made a few personal calls to their families and a few more undisclosed personalities. However, it was confirmed that they did speak at length with Hollywood actor Tom Cruise today.
