{"id":10978,"date":"2021-09-14T00:18:22","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T16:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/civilian-astronauts-practice-for-launch-day-at-kennedy-space-center\/"},"modified":"2021-09-14T00:18:22","modified_gmt":"2021-09-13T16:18:22","slug":"civilian-astronauts-practice-for-launch-day-at-kennedy-space-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/civilian-astronauts-practice-for-launch-day-at-kennedy-space-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Civilian astronauts practice for launch day at Kennedy Space Center"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From left to right: Chris Sembroski, Sian Proctor, Jared Isaacman, and Hayley Arceneaux aboard SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft Sunday night. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The four civilian fliers who will rocket into orbit this week on the privately-managed Inspiration4 mission took their seats inside a SpaceX crew capsule Sunday night in Florida during a dress rehearsal for launch day.<\/p>\n

Hours later, once the crew members cleared the launch pad, SpaceX test-fired the Falcon 9 rocket set to launch the Inspiration4 mission.<\/p>\n

The back-to-back milestones came after SpaceX rolled the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule to launch pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center Saturday night. SpaceX erected the 215-foot-tall (65-meter) launcher vertical on the launch pedestal Sunday morning, setting the stage for the crew dress rehearsal later in the day.<\/p>\n

The Inspiration4 mission is set to become the first human spaceflight to reach orbit with a crew comprised entirely of private citizens. Every crew to fly in Earth orbit to date has been led by a government-employed astronaut.<\/p>\n

In July, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin \u2014 founded by billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos \u2014 launched all-private crews into space on their own commercial spaceships. But those suborbital missions only reached the edge of space, giving the passengers a few minutes of microgravity and offering brief views of Earth from an altitude of more than 50 miles (80 kilometers).<\/p>\n

Commanded by Jared Isaacman, a billionaire who paid SpaceX for the three-day, four-seat flight, the Inspiration4 mission is the centerpiece of a charity-focused project designed, in part, to raise $200 million for St. Jude Children\u2019s Research Hospital, a nonprofit institution devoted to treating children with cancer and other pediatric diseases.<\/p>\n

Isaacman is a civilian pilot with experience flying high-performance fighter jets. But SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon capsule is fully automated, with ground teams at mission control also able to send commands to the spacecraft.<\/p>\n

Crew members inside the ship\u2019s pressurized compartment, about the size of a large SUV, can intervene to manually command a de-orbit burn, parachute deployment, or take other actions if something goes wrong.<\/p>\n

Isaacman, 38, will be joined on the mission by Sian Proctor, 51, a private pilot and science educator with a master\u2019s degree in geology, Hayley Arceneaux, a 29-year-old physician assistant at St. Jude, and Chris Sembroski, a 42-year-old data engineer from the Seattle area.<\/p>\n

Proctor and Sembroski got their seats through a competition and a lottery. Arceneaux, a survivor of childhood cancer, was named to the crew to represent \u201chope.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Isaacman hasn\u2019t disclosed exactly how much he paid SpaceX for the Inspiration4 mission, each Crew Dragon seat sells for more than $50 million, according to a report by NASA\u2019s inspector general.<\/p>\n