A few hours ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft concluded its Inspiration4 mission splashing down without problems. Onboard were Jared Isaacman, Sian Proctor, Hayley Arceneaux, and Chris Sembroski, who finished the first completely private space mission in the Atlantic Ocean not far from Cape Canaveral. Shortly after the splashdown, the SpaceX ship called “Go Searcher” went to retrieve the Crew Dragon and its crew to transport them to the coast.
Launched three days ago, the Inspiration4 mission made history by sending four people who are not professional astronauts into orbit. Also for this reason, the medical data collected during this mission will be useful, even if three days are too few to have important physiological changes like the ones that occur during missions that last months.
The media coverage of the Inspiration4 mission has been remarkable and there’s a miniseries on Netflix that recounts its various phases. The episodes available so far tell the crew’s preparations for the mission but soon the story of the experience in orbit will also arrive. Having a crew that could inspire people about what is possible in space was a goal announced from the start by Jared Isaacman, who wanted and funded the Inspiration4 mission. The crew members were chosen to represent four pillars of this inspiration: Isaacman represents leadership, Hayley Arceneaux represents hope, Chris Sembroski represents generosity, and Sian Proctor represents prosperity.
An important goal for the Inspiration4 mission was to raise funds for the St. Jude hospital, stressed again by SpaceX reporters as they were recounting its final stages. By the time the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft returned to Earth, approximately $150 million got raised and Elon Musk announced a donation of another $50 million.
The trip was conducted following an automated program and Resilience’s piloting systems worked perfectly, so Jared Isaacman’s commander and Chris Sembroski’s pilot roles remained theoretical but the two of them were prepared for the possibility of having to manually drive the spacecraft.
The second mission of the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft was a historic success in many ways. Space tourism will remain for a few people for a long time, especially when it comes to orbit trips, but a new era in space travel has opened.
