The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft entered the atmosphere and autonomously deployed the parachutes. The four passengers intended the flight to collect donations for childhood cancer research
Update 02:12 - About five minutes ago, SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft landed on the Inspiration4 mission. The autonomous spacecraft landed itself in the Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Florida exactly at the scheduled time. The weather was fine and allowed for a smooth landing.
The Inspiration4 team, made up of civilian astronauts only, will land tonight off the coast of Florida. This is what the SpaceX company that sent them into space said on the night between Wednesday and Thursday.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft climbed into orbit at an altitude of about 575 km - much higher than the International Space Station and even the Hubble Space Telescope, whose missions so far were the highest orbit reached by humans after the closing of the Apollo project.
The four are tech entrepreneur and billionaire Jared Isakman with Sian Proctor designated as the mission squadron. Apart from them, the doctor Hayley Arsenault and the data engineer Chris Samborsky. Together, they represent the ideals of leadership, prosperity, hope, and generosity, respectively. The purpose of the mission is to raise funds for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - in particular for cancer research. Arsano was treated as a child in the hospital for bone cancer. The doctors had to amputate one of her legs and she uses a prosthetic leg, apparently the first person with a disability to fly into space.
The flight was launched as mentioned on Wednesday at 20:00 EST, 03:00 Israel time then launch 39A
at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The purpose of the flight was to raise awareness and funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and to inspire people all over the world. The flight, operated by SpaceX and sponsored by Jared Isaacman and his fintech company -Shift4Payments, illustrates how accessibility to space has soared both in the number of missions and the height they reach.
This mission represents several milestones. In addition to being the first civilian spaceflight, it is also the first crewed Crew Dragon mission in orbit that will not dock with a space station since the last Hubble mission in 2009 (STS-125). The team is aiming for a trajectory of about 575 km, flying farther than anyone else since Hubble, for an expected mission of about three days.
About a quarter of an hour after the launch, the cover was removed over the nose of the passenger cabin, revealing the cupola (observatory) that was connected to it instead of the docking adapter of the space station. The passengers floated up to the cupola during the flight and photographed the Earth from it.
Dr. Richard Shadiak, president and CEO of the American-Lebanese-Syrian Charitable Foundation, which is managing the fundraising campaign for St. Jude Hospital, said at the launching ceremony: We model Jared for his leadership as commander of the historic mission and for his work to raise 200 A million dollars for the hospital. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of Operation Inspiration4. The mission is the beginning of a new era in spaceflight and it gives hope to children."
"About 400 children are diagnosed with cancer worldwide every year. Curing this terrible disease in children is a task that requires trillions of dollars, many years and public support through initiatives such as inspiration4 that make the task of recruiting and helping to save children all over the world.
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