SpaceX to launch 1st commercial astronaut mission to orbit Earth
New Delhi, 4/2: Elon Musk’s space tourism company SpaceX will launch its first commercial astronaut mission to orbit Earth. The project, which is being referred to as ‘Inspiration4’ is scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Four commercial astronauts will board the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to space, as a part of this project. It will orbit Earth every 90 minutes along a customized flight path during this multi-day journey.
Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments is “donating the three seats alongside him aboard Dragon to individuals from the general public,” according to SpaceX. The names of these individuals will be announced in the coming weeks, the company announced.
Announcing the first commercial astronaut mission to orbit Earth aboard Dragon → https://t.co/MbESvnakAD pic.twitter.com/ukLsjFfRjk
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 1, 2021
The chosen commercial astronauts will undergo training by SpaceX on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft.
“They will go through emergency preparedness training, spacesuit and spacecraft ingress and egress exercises, as well as partial and full mission simulations,” SpaceX said.
