Stuff

    Subscribe to our newsletter

    What's Hot
    Vodacom

    Vodacom launches its ‘Good as New’ refurbished iPhone range

    July 6, 2022
    VS Gaming Weekly

    South African esports gets its own TV show – This is VS Gaming Weekly

    July 6, 2022
    Shanghai

    Shanghai hack sees over 23TB of personal information up for sale

    July 6, 2022
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube SoundCloud
    Trending
    • Vodacom launches its ‘Good as New’ refurbished iPhone range
    • South African esports gets its own TV show – This is VS Gaming Weekly
    • Shanghai hack sees over 23TB of personal information up for sale
    • How Discovery Insure is making people better drivers and saving lives – T2S2
    • Glance is here to absolutely ruin your day. And your lock-screen
    • This is what a 3D-printed lunar base built by autonomous robots might look like
    • Nigeria’s latest lithium find: some key questions answered
    • Asus ROG Phone 6 and 6 Pro models announced, will land in SA (eventually)
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Stuff Stuff
    • News
      • App News
      • Business News
      • Camera News
      • Gaming News
      • Headphone News
      • Industry News
      • Internet News
      • Laptops News
      • Motoring News
      • Other Tech News
      • Phone News
      • Tablet News
      • Technology News
      • TV News
      • Wearables News
    • Reviews
      • Camera Reviews
      • Car Reviews
      • Featured Reviews
      • Game Reviews
      • Headphone Reviews
      • Laptop Reviews
      • Other Tech Reviews
      • Phone Reviews
      • Tablet Reviews
      • Wearables Reviews
    • Columns
    • Stuff Guides
    • Podcasts & Videos
      • Videos
      • Stuffed
      • Stuffing Around
      • Tech Byte
      • T2S2
    • Win
    • Subscribe
      • Print
      • Digital
        • Google Play
        • iTunes
        • Download
        • Zinio
    • Stuff Shop
      • Shop Now
      • My Account
      • Downloads
    • Contact Us
      • Get In Touch
      • Advertise
    0 Shopping Cart
    Stuff
    Home » News » Other Tech News » SpaceX Inspiration4 mission will send 4 people with minimal training into orbit – and bring space tourism closer to reality
    News

    SpaceX Inspiration4 mission will send 4 people with minimal training into orbit – and bring space tourism closer to reality

    The ConversationBy The ConversationSeptember 14, 2021No Comments5 Mins Read
    Inspiration4 main
    Image: NASA Johnson/Flickr, CC BY-NC
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    On Sept. 15, 2021, the next batch of space tourists are set to lift off aboard a SpaceX rocket. Organized and funded by entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, the Inspiration4 mission touts itself as “the first all-civilian mission to orbit” and represents a new type of space tourism.

    The four crew members will not be the first space tourists this year. In the past few months, the world witnessed billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos launching themselves and a lucky few others into space on brief suborbital trips. While there are similarities between those launches and Inspiration4 — the mission is being paid for by one billionaire and is using a rocket built by another, Elon Musk — the differences are noteworthy. From my perspective as a space policy expert, the mission’s emphasis on public involvement and the fact that Inspiration4 will send regular people into orbit for three days make it a milestone in space tourism.

    The four crew members of the Inspiration4 mission include a physician assistant, a data engineer, a geoscientist and billionaire Jared Isaacman, left. Inspiration4/John Kraus via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

    Why Inspiration4 is different

    The biggest difference between Inspiration4 and the flights performed earlier this year is the destination.

    Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic took – and in the future, will take – their passengers on suborbital launches. Their vehicles only go high enough to reach the beginning of space before returning to the ground a few minutes later. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and crew Dragon vehicle, however, are powerful enough to take the Inspiration4 crew all the way into orbit, where they will circle the Earth for three days.

    The four-person crew is also quite different from the other launches. Led by Isaacman, the mission features a somewhat diverse group of people. One crew member, Sian Proctor, won a contest among people who use Isaacman’s online payment company. Another unique aspect of the mission is that one of its goals is to raise awareness of and funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. As such, Isaacman selected Hayley Arceneaux, a physician’s assistant at St. Jude and childhood cancer survivor, to participate in the launch. The final member, Christopher Sembroski, won his seat when his friend was chosen in a charity raffle for St. Jude and offered his seat to Sembroski.

    Because none of the four participants has any prior formal astronaut training, the flight has been called the first “all civilian” space mission. While the rocket and crew capsule are both fully automated – no one on board will need to control any part of the launch or landing – the four members still needed to go through much more training than the people on the suborbital flights. In less than six months, the crew has undergone hours of simulator training, lessons in flying a jet aircraft and spent time in a centrifuge to prepare them for the G-forces of launch.

    Social outreach has also been an important aspect of the mission. While Bezos’ and Branson’s flights brought on criticism of billionaire playboys in space, Inspiration4 has tried – with mixed results – to make space tourism more relatable. The crew recently appeared on the cover of Time magazine and is the subject of an ongoing Netflix documentary.

    There have also been other fundraising events for St. Jude, including a 4-mile virtual run and the planned auction of beer hops that will be flown on the mission.

    The Inspiration4 mission is a step toward giving more people access to views like this – the aurora borealis seen from the International Space Station. NASA

    The future of space tourism?

    Sending a crew of amateur astronauts into orbit is a significant step in the development of space tourism. However, despite the more inclusive feel of the mission, there are still serious barriers to overcome before average people can go to space.

    For one, the cost remains quite high. Though three of the four are not rich, Isaacman is a billionaire and paid an estimated $200 million to fund the trip. The need to train for a mission like this also means that prospective passengers must be able to devote significant amounts of time to prepare – time that many ordinary people don’t have.

    Finally, space remains a dangerous place, and there will never be a way to fully remove the danger of launching people – whether untrained civilians or seasoned professional astronauts – into space.

    Despite these limitations, orbital space tourism is coming. For SpaceX, Inspiration4 is an important proof of concept that they hope will further demonstrate the safety and reliability of their autonomous rocket and capsule systems. Indeed, SpaceX has several tourist missions planned in the next few months, even though the company isn’t focused on space tourism. Some will even includes stops at the International Space Station.

    Even as space remains out of reach for most on Earth, Inspiration4 is an example of how billionaire space barons’ efforts to include more people on their journeys can give an otherwise exclusive activity a wider public appeal.

    • Wendy Whitman Cobb is Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies
    • This article first appeared on The Conversation

    featured Inspiration4 September 2021 space space tourism SpaceX
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Tumblr Email
    The Conversation

      Related Posts

      Vodacom

      Vodacom launches its ‘Good as New’ refurbished iPhone range

      July 6, 2022
      VS Gaming Weekly

      South African esports gets its own TV show – This is VS Gaming Weekly

      July 6, 2022
      Shanghai

      Shanghai hack sees over 23TB of personal information up for sale

      July 6, 2022

      Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

      In The Mag
      Stuff June-July 2022 Latest Issue

      In This Issue – The Outdoors (June-July 2022) Issue

      By Brett VenterMay 30, 20221

      Once again, we are asking you to check out a new issue of Stuff Magazine.…

      2021 Wish List
      wish list Stuff Wish List 2021

      Stuff Wish List: for the tech impaired

      By Duncan PikeDecember 22, 20210

      Are you from the time before being glued to a smartphone was considered normal? Here’s…

      Wishlist DIY Stuff tech

      Stuff Wish List: for the DIY Diehard

      December 21, 2021
      Wish List Gearhead

      Stuff Wish List: For the petrol-soaked gearhead

      December 20, 2021
      outsiders

      Stuff Wish List: for the Outsiders

      December 17, 2021

      Latest Video

      Sonos

      SONOS Roam SL unboxing by Toby Shapshak

      March 30, 2022
      Mini Cooper

      The Mini Cooper SE Electric with Toby Shapshak

      March 18, 2022
      MSI Crosshair 15 Rainbox Six Extraction Edition unboxing

      MSI Crosshair 15 Rainbox Six Extraction Edition unboxing

      March 16, 2022
      Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Unboxing

      Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra unboxing with Toby Shapshak

      March 16, 2022
      Contact

      South Africa's Consumer Tech News Hub

      General: [email protected]
      Subscriptions: [email protected] or 087 353 1291
      Editorial: 072 735 2614
      Sales: 083 375 2418

      Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube SoundCloud

      Subscribe to Updates

      • Terms and Conditions
      • Privacy & POPI
      • My account
      © 2022 Stuff Group. Designed by Chronon.

      Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.