SpaceX’s private Inspiration 4 mission is ‘Go’ for launch on September 15th
The SpaceX and Inspiration 4 teams completed a flight preparation review on September 2nd.
The first all-citizen launch of Cape Canaveral, Fla.-SpaceX is officially for the “go” launch.
“# Inspiration4 and pSpaceX have completed our Flight Readiness Review and are on track for launch!” The Inspiration4 mission team tweeted on Friday (September 3).
The Inspiration 4 mission will explode from NASA’s Pad 39A on September 15 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A crew of four private civilians will get stuck in the Dragon spacecraft and explode in a journey of about three days. Earth.
Billionaire Jared Isaacman, founder of Shift 4 Payments, bought the flight as part of an effort to raise millions for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He is joined by Haley Arsenox, Cyan Proctor and Chris Sembrowski.
Arsenox, a survivor of childhood bone cancer and an assistant to St. Jude Physician, was selected to represent the charity, while Procter and Sembrowski were selected as part of a global competition for a flight trip.
The group has been engaged in their flight training for the past few months. On Friday (September 3), both SpaceX and Inspiration 4 officially greenlit the flight, making those efforts a success.
Both the Dragon Crew capsule and the Falcon 9 rocket have been flown before and each craft system on the launch pad as well as the ground support system has been cleared for flight after a thorough review of the data.
The liftoff is expected on Sept. 15, with a backup launch date of Sept. 16, Inspiration4 officials said in a statement emailed to Space.com.
The exact pick-up time will be fixed a few days before the launch. Three days before the liftoff, the team will reduce the 24-hour launch window to five hours, taking into account weather conditions at the launch site, flight trajectory and potential emergency landing sites off the coast of Florida.
Once in orbit, the crew will orbit the Earth for three days before descending into the Atlantic Ocean. Since the dragon will continue to fly free in orbit and will not visit the International Space Station, as previous crew dragon missions have done, its docking port has been removed and replaced with a dome window.
A window inspired by Coppola on the International Space Station will provide the crew with an incredible view of Earth, according to the Inspiration 4 team.
Isaacman, Arsenox, Procter and Sembrowski will arrive at the Kennedy Space Center on September 9, ahead of their planned launch.
