Inspiration4

Inspiration4

Part of: Prelims and GS – III- Space

Context: SpaceX announced that ‘Inspiration4’, its first all-civilian, non-governmental spaceflight, is on track for launch on September 15.

About Inspiration4

• Inspiration4 is the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit.
• The flight will be privately operated by SpaceX (US Private Space Company) using a previously-flown Crew Dragon capsule launched to low Earth orbit. 
• Inspiration4 will blast off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 15.
• The mission involves circling the Earth for three days, and then splashing down into the Atlantic Ocean.
• Inspiration4 will orbit the Earth at 575km, higher than the International Space Station (408km) and the Hubble space telescope (547km). 
• This will be the farthest distance travelled by a crewed mission since 2009, when astronauts last went to repair the Hubble.
• The mission will raise awareness and funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in US.

Do You Know?

• SpaceX company’s Ax-1 mission, also planned for the end of 2021, hosts a crew of four private astronauts paying $55 million each for an eight-day trip to the ISS.
• In 2018, Elon Musk also announced Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will take a ride around the moon on SpaceX’s new rocket system Starship, which is under development.
• Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond.