San Francisco (AFP)

While an Elon Musk rocket is to transport four tourists into space on Wednesday, a guest will follow the mission with particular interest: Philippe Croizon, a famous French sportsman with four limbs amputated, also hopes to go into orbit with SpaceX.

“Someday we'll fly you aboard Starship,” Elon Musk promised him in November 2020.

The boss of Tesla and SpaceX responded on Twitter to Philippe Croizon, who had challenged himself to contact the entrepreneur if he exceeded 50,000 subscribers to his account before Christmas.

A figure reached in one hour.

"Hello @elonmusk, I am a famous French adventurer with no arms or legs! Send me into space to show once again that anything is possible!" Philippe Croizon tweeted.

This former worker turned 53-year-old athlete, whose four limbs were amputated following an accident in 1994, had made a historic crossing of the English Channel by swimming in 2010.

Philippe Croizon did not really expect a response to this message sent "like a bottle in space", he told AFP on Monday, after a conference at the French high school in San Francisco (California), greeted by a standing ovation from the students.

"And now I'm going to Cape Canaveral for take-off, 3 days later we're going to the landing, we're going to pick them up at sea and then we spend a moment together to see if it's possible to send a little guy like me in space, ”he continued.

The French athlete, four limbs amputee, Philippe Croizon signs autographs at the Lycée Français in San Francisco, September 13, 2021 Nick Otto AFP

Elon Musk's company has already transported ten astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), on behalf of NASA.

But the flight baptized Inspiration4 will be the first in history to send only inexperienced amateurs into orbit.

- Fins and clips -

In July, billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos each spent a few minutes in space, whisked away by their respective space companies.

The four SpaceX passengers must stay three days in zero gravity.

Philippe Croizon, who learns English intensively, had already tried to write to Richard Branson ten years ago, without response.

He says he corresponds from time to time with the whimsical Elon Musk, and especially with Jared Isaacman, the billionaire tourist who hires the services of the company.

The athlete Philippe Croizon speaks in front of the students of the French Lycée in San Francisco, September 13, 2021 Nick Otto AFP

The speaker believes these space trips are worth the cost - tens of millions of dollars - for the inspiration they bring to Earthlings, but also in terms of scientific research.

For his crossing of the Channel, engineers had designed prostheses with fins.

They are now used by other athletes without legs, he says.

To face the challenges of weightlessness, he has already consulted a French space equipment company, Comat.

"We imagined prostheses, so we don't come empty-handed," he joked.

"It does not look like hands but clips: click, I clip, click, little quarter turn, I unclip. (...) so that I can hang in the capsule".

"Well certainly that I will bang my head but I will not be alone", concludes the one who hopes to become the first disabled person to realize this universal dream.

© 2021 AFP