Space tourism Astronauts or passengers?
The space flights of millionaires Bezos and Branson reopen the debate
Exploration Space tourism takes off in 2021
Ana Bru, The first Spanish woman with a ticket to travel to space: "It is the beginning of a new era"
Little by little, private space experiences begin to resemble the real work of astronauts. Four civilians - two men and two women - are preparing to spend three days off Earth this week orbiting our planet in an automated spacecraft during a mission in which in addition to enjoying the same sensations and discomfort as professional crew members, they will perform some experiments and
studies on how the human body behaves in weightlessness
while raising funds for cancer research.
The members of the Inspiration4 mission will travel aboard
SpaceX's
Crew Dragon
spacecraft
, which for a few months has regularly transferred astronauts from NASA and other agencies to the International Space Station (ISS). It seems that its owner, Elon Musk, has not been encouraged to participate in the first flight of his vehicle without professional astronauts, unlike what his rivals, Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, and Jeff Bezos, the owner, did in July. of Blue Origin, protagonists of two suborbital flights that got a great media coverage.
There will also be a millionaire on board here, businessman
Jared Isaacman
, 38, who will be the mission commander and, like the other billionaires who have boarded a ship, assures that flying into space is his dream since he was a child. The founder of the company Shift4 Payments is also a pilot and passionate about adventure who has also created a private company, Draken International, which trains pilots for the US Armed Forces.
Sian Proctor
is also a pilot
, geoscientist and entrepreneur born in Guam, a western Pacific island belonging to the US, whose father worked at a NASA station that tracked the Apollo missions.
She herself has participated in analogous missions that simulate space conditions on Earth to prepare and study various aspects of space missions.
The other two crew members are
Chris Sembroski
, an aerospace data engineer and a veteran of the US Air Force, where he served until 2007, and
Hayley Arceneaux
, a
medic
at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and a survivor of bone cancer that was detected. When I was 10 years old.
Precisely she was treated in the same hospital where she now helps save the lives of other patients suffering from leukemia or lymphomas. In addition to obtaining his degree as a medical associate (a degree that in the US allows him to practice medicine under the supervision of a specialist doctor), Arceneaux studied Spanish. "It is an incredible honor for me to be part of this mission that will not only raise crucial funds to save lives at St. Jude, but will show cancer survivors that anything is possible," he said.
The launch is scheduled for Wednesday from 20:02 in the US
(early Thursday in Spain) from the mythical platform 39A of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
At that time, a five-hour launch window will open for lift-off.
If something unforeseen arises during that time, an anomaly is detected or there are problems with the weather, it will be tried again the next day at the same time.
At the moment, there is a 70% chance that the weather is favorable.
If all goes according to plan, approximately three days after launch, the Dragon capsule will return to Earth.
It will do so by falling into the sea off the coast of Florida, just like astronauts do after finishing their missions on the ISS.
Of the three private space missions in which civilians have participated so far this year, Inspiration4 will go the furthest and the longest. While Richard Branson's team, who traveled as a mission specialist, reached 86 km and Jeff Bezos' team at 106 km altitude, these four civilians will reach 575 km altitude, further than the ISS, which orbits about 400 km high. Every 90 minutes, the
Crew Dragon
ship
,
which will travel at 27,358 kilometers / hour, will complete a return to Earth.
The mission's goal is to raise $ 200 million for research at St. Jude Hospital.
Also, the adventure is being collected in a series for Netflix.
As a bonus, the crew will have a large glass dome in the capsule that will allow them to enjoy and show our planet in all its splendor.
VIRGIN'S FLIGHTS, STOPPED
The Virgin Galactic space tourism company, immersed in the final phase of tests before starting its suborbital travel program for tourists, will not be able to resume its flights until the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States concludes an investigation into a detected anomaly. on July 11 during the flight of the ship 'VSS Unity' in which the founder of the company, Richard Branson was traveling. The US authority will have to determine that the irregularity detected will not affect security. As revealed by 'The New Yorker' at the beginning of the month, an alert light was lit on the ship because the vehicle had deviated from its path. While the case is being solved, Virgin has been forced to postpone its next flight, which was to do with members of the Italian Air Force.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
Science and Health
science
Graphics
Does the Delta variant, in addition to being highly contagious, pose a greater risk to the health of those infected?
The drought hits the famous Colorado River and leaves the reservoirs at their worst level in a century
The detectives of Leonardo da Vinci: this is how they look for their relatives and the keys to their genius
See links of interest
Last News
Work calendar
Home THE WORLD TODAY
Master Investigation Journalism
Sevilla - Red Bull Salzburg, live
Young Boys - Manchester United
Barcelona - Bayern, live
Chelsea - Zenit St Petersburg
Dinamo Kiev - Benfica, live