SpaceX is targeting a five-hour launch window on Wednesday, September 15, opening at 8:02 p.m. EDT for launch of the Inspiration4 mission – the world’s first all-civilian human spaceflight to orbit – aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Approximately three days after liftoff, Dragon and the Inspiration4 crew will return to Earth and splash down at one of several possible landing sites off the Florida coast.
SpaceX’s webcast for launch of the Inspiration4 mission will go live ~4 hours before liftoff. Watch it
HERE Inspiration4 is commanded by Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments and an accomplished pilot and adventurer. Joining him are Medical Officer Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® and pediatric cancer survivor; Mission Specialist Chris Sembroski, an Air Force veteran and aerospace data engineer; and Mission Pilot Dr. Sian Proctor, a geoscientist, entrepreneur, and trained pilot.
This flight was funded entirely by Jared Isaacmen. The others were picked by virtue of their accomplishments and qualifications.
If this goes off without a hitch it’s great for America and great to see Musk kick sand in the face of Bezos and Branson on billionaire beach !
He already can. Bezos has never orbited so much as a bread crumb, and Branson's little rocket plane is now grounded for potentially catastrophic defects.
You have no idea how little I care.
Gazillionaire's dick measuring contest.
MM
You think it'll be as meaningless as when Mr Boeing decided to stick a few seats in his mail planes to carry paying passengers? Nothing ever came of that, right?
Musk said he was not going to space until he gets his Mars rocket, Starship fully developed, then he would go to Mars in about 10 years.
Musk may be a billionaire, but he sold his mansions and lives in a 20x20 tiny house at Boca Chica, Texas where he is building his giant rockets. The booster rocket is already on the launch mount and is supposed to be tested this week. SpaceX is awaiting the FAA approval for the first orbital test launch. This was all paid for by Musk out of his own pocket, not NASA.
The launch today does not involve NASA or any government money.
None of this good news makes the mainstream media. They make it like a conflict of billionaires. However SpaceX is head and shoulders above Bezos and Branson. His Falcon 9 rockets have launched 126 times and the boosters landed for reuse 90 times. Musk is making rocket launches like airlines.
Yes Musks owns a controlling share of Tesla, started Pay-Pal, Neural link, and The Boring Company, Starlink internet service, as well as SpaceX. He doesn't have a lot of "cash", but it is in stock and ownership of the companies. He pours all his extra cash into SpaceX. Once Starlink is fully operational, the profits from it will fund his Mars colonization ambition.
He already can. Bezos has never orbited so much as a bread crumb, and Branson's little rocket plane is now grounded for potentially catastrophic defects.
I’m well aware. I just laughed when the two pretenders were making a big deal about their sub orbital “space flights”. It’s like two 98lb weaklings at muscle beach high fiving everyone because they benched the bar. Elon walks up and slaps 500lbs on and benches a set of ten while making the plates clank at the top. Musk is revolutionizing space flight.
The SpaceX webcast is up, for those of you who want to know more about this flight, the crew, and more. Conditions are GO for liftoff at 8:02 Eastern.
Musk said he was not going to space until he gets his Mars rocket, Starship fully developed, then he would go to Mars in about 10 years.
Musk may be a billionaire, but he sold his mansions and lives in a 20x20 tiny house at Boca Chica, Texas where he is building his giant rockets. The booster rocket is already on the launch mount and is supposed to be tested this week. SpaceX is awaiting the FAA approval for the first orbital test launch. This was all paid for by Musk out of his own pocket, not NASA.
The launch today does not involve NASA or any government money.
None of this good news makes the mainstream media. They make it like a conflict of billionaires. However SpaceX is head and shoulders above Bezos and Branson. His Falcon 9 rockets have launched 126 times and the boosters landed for reuse 90 times. Musk is making rocket launches like airlines.
Yes Musks owns a controlling share of Tesla, started Pay-Pal, Neural link, and The Boring Company, Starlink internet service, as well as SpaceX. He doesn't have a lot of "cash", but it is in stock and ownership of the companies. He pours all his extra cash into SpaceX. Once Starlink is fully operational, the profits from it will fund his Mars colonization ambition.
He's genius who can and does walk the walk.
good maybe govt wll stop spending money on it except for critical military- yeah right
You should be in McGregor, Tx when SpaceX test their rocket engines. Holy crap!! Seems like you can feel it from Waco to Temple! It’s insane.
Crew is in the capsule and they're about to close the hatch. Launch in two hours.
Starting propellant loading. T-35 minutes.
(I'm participating with a highball of Jack Daniel's Rye Whiskey and Fever Tree Ginger Beer. Mighty fine Rocky fuel!)
As the Commander said, "The door is now open" to space - for everyone. It is a truly monumental mission.
I read that the crew are basically passengers and the flight is totally controlled automatically or from the ground. If that's the case, it seems like they have significantly devalued the title of astronaut.
Rock,
The family drove out to a high point today and looked north.
Even the iPhone footage was decent. Very cool.
Musk is a living legend as far as I’m concerned.
Good launch, hope the splash down goes well.
NV, that's simply not the case. Yes, the capsule is autonomous. But to argue that that diminishes their deserved title of astronaut is like saying airline pilots don't deserve the title because their planes have auto-pilots. Those four are crew members, and each has a specific role to accomplish, from commander, pilot, and systems specialist to medical officer. And, in an emergency, they'd have to fly the thing on their own.
19 minutes in, pretty cool, nose cone is open.
I think they are giving the crew time to orient themselves to 0g before they show any more. In their training, the older guy threw up. They were also going into the night side of earth. We will get some more pictures tomorrow. Booster landed, that is a plus for reusability.
NV, that's simply not the case. Yes, the capsule is autonomous. But to argue that that diminishes their deserved title of astronaut is like saying airline pilots don't deserve the title because their planes have auto-pilots. Those four are crew members, and each has a specific role to accomplish, from commander, pilot, and systems specialist to medical officer. And, in an emergency, they'd have to fly the thing on their own.
On the news tonight they called them space travelers, I can go with that.
What started out as barnstorming became the world's airline system, thousands of flights a day all over the world. This is how it started. It's small with only a few passengers on a high. Later it could grow into something big.
The difference, though, is where they're going. The airline system carries people between 2 cities. At the end of the flight they have family or friends, business to conduct, maybe an elk hunt. Since there are no places or people in space to visit, there is no real destination. It's up and back, just seeing the sights out of a window. I can't see it growing much beyond a few flights like this one.
Space is where their workplace will be, RC. Several companies are already designing manufacturing space stations to produce things that can't be made in gravity. What a commute, huh?
BTW, it has long been known that the first 24 hours in 0-G is a barf-o-rama. Most people experience "space sickness" until their inner ears and brain adjust.
Their flight is almost over. De-orbit burn is underway for a splashdown off Florida.
LINK Now in blackout. About 11 minutes until splashdown.
Down safe!
So, anyone know what the politics are behind these four folks being denied their official "astronaut wings"? Seems petty bullshat at first glance.
Just watched replay of the splashdown. Very cool. As a kid I used to watch the apollo launches, then space shuttle, etc. Wonderful time to be young and see history. Now as an older man I'm watching history again.
If anyone has an opportunity to visit Smithsonian Air & Space in DC or the Udvar-Hazy Center in VA to view history of space flight, do this. My son and I did this years ago, met with some 24hcf members in downtown dc, lunched at the Old Ebbitt Grill. Very very cool. 7x57 Steve, Pugs, Isaac, that lawyer who doesn't post here anymore, and a buddy of his (I figure he was bodyguard for Isaac).
I offer a "Thank You" to RockyRabb for posting these links and starting these threads on the 24HCF. Also a Thank You to Rick Binn for hosting us.
Pat
And for the record, Biden failed to acknowledge the accomplishment in any way whatsoever. When Musk was asked for comment, he answered “probably still sleeping”.