The aerospace company of billionaire Elon Musk SpaceX announced on Tuesday the launch of its first space tourism missions for the fourth quarter of 2021. Called Inspiration4, it will take four people, including entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, for several days away from the wilderness .
SpaceX plans to launch its first space tourism mission in the fourth quarter of 2021, the US aerospace company of whimsical billionaire Elon Musk said in a statement Monday.
The mission, named Inspiration4, will be carried out using SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9 rocket, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It will have on board Jared Isaacman, founder and boss of Shift4 Payments, the group's first space tourist.
Three seats to be filled
Jared Isaacman will donate the three seats by his side aboard the Dragon capsule, to "individuals from the general public, whose identity will be announced in the coming weeks," the statement said.
A website has been set up at Inspiration4.com so that people can apply for one of these places.
Two categories of seats are possible: the seat of "generosity" can be obtained with a donation to the St Jude foundation, which works on childhood illnesses, while the seat of "prosperity" can be obtained by sharing its entrepreneurship story.
The competition is open to residents of the United States over 18 years of age.
Announcing the first commercial astronaut mission to orbit Earth aboard Dragon → https://t.co/MbESvnakADpic.twitter.com/ukLsjFfRjk
- SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 1, 2021
One orbit around the Earth every 90 minutes
The four individuals, along with Jared Isaacman, "will receive commercial astronaut training from SpaceX."
According to the company, the mission will last for several days, and space tourists will orbit the Earth every 90 minutes.
After the mission, the capsule will enter the atmosphere for a water landing off the coast of Florida.
In November 2020, four astronauts were successfully put into orbit by SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, before joining the International Space Station.
Over $ 8 billion by 2024
The Dragon capsule had become a week earlier the first spacecraft to be certified by NASA from the space shuttle, forty years earlier.
NASA turned to SpaceX and Boeing after ending its space shuttle program in 2011, which failed in its goal of making space travel safe and inexpensive.
The US agency plans to spend more than $ 8 billion by 2024 on its commercial crew program, with the hope that the private sector will meet the "low orbital" needs of NASA so that the latter can survive. concentrate on return missions to the Moon, then to Mars.
In addition to its first space tourism mission, SpaceX has planned two other manned launches for NASA in 2021, including one in the spring with French astronaut Thomas Pesquet on board.
Founded by Earth's Richest Man Elon Musk in 2002, SpaceX is now ahead of rival Boeing, whose space program has found itself in trouble after tests of its unmanned Starliner capsule failed. last year.