SUCCESSFUL TAKEOFF FOR SPACEX'S FIRST TOURIST MISSION

The space tourism passes a new milestone. Elon Musk's company, SpaceX, sent four passengers for three days in space on Wednesday, September 15. At 2:02 am that night, the launch of SpaceX's fourth manned mission, the first entirely with civilian passengers, without any professional astronauts, went as planned. The four Americans aboard the Crew Dragon capsule will remain in orbit for three days.

Passengers took off from the legendary Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Center, Florida, where the Apollo missions took off to the moon, boarding a Falcon 9 rocket. Atop the Falcon 9 rocket, which measures 70 meters high, is perched the Dragon capsule, where the crew is located. This spacecraft has already taken 10 astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on three separate missions.

The Dragon capsule (8m high, 4m in diameter) has been modified here: a huge glass dome has been installed to offer passengers a 360 ° view of the vacuum of space. It replaces the system normally intended to dock with the ISS. The Dragon capsule will then remain in space for three days. It will go further than the ISS, which rotates at an altitude of 400 km, aiming for an orbit of 575 km. It will then begin a vertiginous fall towards the Earth, and will land off the coast of Florida, slowed down by immense parachutes. This time, it is about going to fly further than the International Space Station. "The risk is not zero", recognizes Jared Isaacman in one of the episodes of the documentary broadcast by Netflix on the mission. “You are traveling in a vessel at 28,000 km / h around the globe.This kind of environment is associated with some risk. "

Called Inspiration4, this mission is to conclude a summer marked by the flight of billionaires over the final frontier: first Richard Branson on July 11, aboard the Virgin Galactic ship, then a few days later Jeff Bezos, with his company Blue Origin.

A crew of novices

This 100% tourist mission was chartered by billionaire Jared Isaacman, at his expense. This 38-year-old American, married with two daughters, is the CEO of the company Shift4 Payments, which offers a service for processing bank card transactions to stores and restaurants. He created it when he was 16, from the basement of the family home. Passionate about piloting, he holds a record for circumnavigating the world in a jet and is qualified to fly on military aircraft. He is a captain on board.

Three anonymous are on the trip, selected by the billionaire through an original process that began with an advertisement projected during the Super Bowl halftime. Each seat is meant to embody a value. Hayley Arceneaux, survivor of pediatric cancer, represents "hope". The 29-year-old was selected because she works as a medical assistant at St Jude's Pediatric Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. She is the youngest American to be sent into orbit around the Earth and the first person with a prosthesis to go to space, and she is the medical lead of the mission.

Chris Sembroski, 42, got the seat of “generosity”. He is a former US Air Force employee who now works in the aviation industry and was selected after making a donation as part of the fundraiser for St Jude's Hospital. Its role is to help manage cargo on board, and communications with Earth.

Finally, the last seat represents "prosperity", and was offered to Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old professor of earth sciences who, in 2009, almost became an astronaut for NASA. She took part in an experiment in Hawaii simulating life on Mars, and twice applied to NASA to become an astronaut. In 2009, she arrived among the finalists (a few dozen out of more than 3,500 candidates at the start). She is the fourth African American woman to go to space. She is the mission pilot, assisting the commander. It won its seat by creating an online sales site linked to the space, as part of an entrepreneurial competition organized by Jared Isaacman's company.

None are professional astronauts.

A training of several months

All four of them trained for just under six months, compared to years for astronauts. They experienced the g-force to which they will be exposed thanks to a centrifuge, a rapidly rotating arm of several meters. On board parabolic flights, they have already tasted a feeling of weightlessness. They also did a high altitude snow trek on Mount Rainier in the northwestern United States.

Finally, although the flight will normally be fully automated, the passengers have been trained by SpaceX to be able to take control in the event of an emergency.

Science

During the three days in orbit, their sleep, heart rate, blood and cognitive abilities will be analyzed. Tests will be carried out before and after the flight, to study the effect of the trip on their body.

A Netflix series to follow the adventure

Inspiration4 can be followed in a documentary series called Countdown on Netflix. Five episodes are planned in total on this mission. Four episodes of this series have already been put online on the platform presenting first the four members of the crew, then the training and the final preparations before the flight. The last, which will be broadcast at the end of September, "just a few days" after the end of the mission.

The start of space tourism on a larger scale

The stated goal of the mission is to open the doors of space to more people.

Several tourist mission projects are already underway. In January 2022, three businessmen will travel to the ISS alongside an experienced astronaut. SpaceX is also planning another trip to orbit for four private clients, organized by intermediary company Space Adventures. Finally, the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa must also take a trip around the Moon, a priori in 2023, this time aboard the Starship rocket, still under development by SpaceX.

As for Virgin Galactic, the start of regular commercial operations is scheduled for 2022. Russia, for its part, will send an actress and a director to the ISS, aboard a Soyuz rocket. The goal: to shoot the first fiction film in orbit and in zero gravity.