{"id":17494,"date":"2021-09-15T23:35:50","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T15:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/why-inspiration4s-all-civilian-trip-to-orbit-represents-the-dawn-of-a-second-space-age\/"},"modified":"2021-09-15T23:35:50","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T15:35:50","slug":"why-inspiration4s-all-civilian-trip-to-orbit-represents-the-dawn-of-a-second-space-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/why-inspiration4s-all-civilian-trip-to-orbit-represents-the-dawn-of-a-second-space-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Inspiration4\u2019s \u2018all-civilian\u2019 trip to orbit represents the dawn of a second space age"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Inspiration4
Inspiration4 mission directors Scott Poteet (far left) and Todd Ericson (far right) flank the crew: Chris Sembroski, Sian Proctor, commander Jared Isaacman and Hayley Arceneaux. (Inspiration4 Photo \/ John Kraus)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Are they space tourists? Citizen spacefliers? All-civilian astronauts? Whatever you call them, the four teammates who are due to go into orbit today in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule require creating a new category.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there\u2019s controversy over what you should be called,\u201d retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly told the foursome today in a tweet. \u201cBut when you strap into a rocket and launch into orbit, you can call yourself anything you want: astronot, astronut, astronaut \u2014 whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s Jared Isaacman, the billiionaire CEO of Shift4 Payments, who\u2019s paying for the launch and is the mission commander \u2026 Hayley Arceneaux, the 29-year-old cancer survivor who\u2019s due to become the youngest American to go into space \u2026 Sian Proctor, the professor and artist who\u2019ll back up Isaacman as America\u2019s first Black female space pilot.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s Chris Sembroski, a former Air Force missile technician and Lockheed Martin engineer from Everett, Wash. Sembroski got his chance to train for the mission and climb onboard the Dragon when an old college buddy of his won a charity sweepstakes \u2014 and then gave the reservation to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that just really puts me in a very special spot, where not only do I feel very lucky to be here, but I have a huge responsibility to pay that forward,\u201d Sembroski said during a pre-launch briefing.<\/p>\n

Liftoff atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set for 8:02 p.m. ET (5:02 p.m. PT) from the historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. But although the three-day Inspiration4 mission starts out from a NASA-owned facility, the space agency has minimal involvement.<\/p>\n

This will be the first non-governmental crewed flight to orbit, and the first crewed SpaceX flight to pass up going to the International Space Station. Instead, the foursome will go into an orbit higher than the space station \u2014 higher than humans have flown since the space shuttle missions to the Hubble Space Telescope.<\/p>\n

During the flight, Isaacman and his crew will conduct science experiments, teach classes from space and conduct auctions and other charity activities aimed at benefiting St. Jude Children\u2019s Research Hospital. Sembroski will even play a tune on his ukulele, although he admitted to \u201ca little bit of stage fright.\u201d If all goes according to plan, the Dragon will descend to a splashdown off the Florida coast on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Streaming coverage of the countdown, launch and in-space operations is due to begin about four hours before launch via SpaceX\u2019s website.<\/p>\n