SpaceX's turn to embark on space tourism.

A rocket from Elon Musk's company should propel four passengers this Wednesday who will spend three days in space.

This very ambitious mission will be the first in history to send only complete novices into orbit, without any professional astronaut.

Called Inspiration4, this mission is to conclude a summer marked by the flight of billionaires over the final frontier: first Richard Branson on July 11, aboard the Virgin Galactic ship, then a few days later Jeff Bezos, with his company Blue Origin.

The billionaire SpaceX tourist will be named Jared Isaacman, 38-year-old American, boss of a financial services company and seasoned pilot.

Dragon's first all-civilian crew https://t.co/bJFjLCilmc pic.twitter.com/BefnuerQa2

- SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 14, 2021

"The risk is not zero"

But he did not found the company allowing him to make the trip. He simply rents the services, for a price that has not been disclosed but which runs into tens of millions of dollars. Because the mission has nothing to do with the experience of just a few minutes offered by Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin. This time, it's about going to fly further than the International Space Station (ISS). "The risk is not zero," admits Jared Isaacman in one of the episodes of the documentary broadcast by Netflix on the mission.

“You are traveling in a vessel at 28,000 km / h around the globe. This kind of environment is associated with some risk. Elon Musk's company has already transported no less than ten astronauts to the ISS on behalf of NASA. But they will be the first private passengers to board the Dragon capsule, launched by the Falcon 9 rocket. Takeoff is scheduled for Wednesday from 8 p.m. on the US East Coast (midnight GMT). Another launch opportunity is planned for Thursday if the weather conditions require it. Passengers will take off from the legendary launch pad 39A, at NASA's Kennedy Center, Florida, from where the Apollo missions to the moon took off.

In addition to Jared Isaacman, captain on board, three anonymous will be on the trip, selected through an original process that began with an advertisement projected during the halftime of the Super Bowl, an American sporting event.

Each seat is meant to embody a value.

Hayley Arceneaux, survivor of pediatric cancer, represents "hope".

She will be the first person with a prosthesis to go to space, and surely the one who is least linked to this universe.

"Are we going to the moon?"

She asked when the opportunity was presented to her.

A training of several months

And after discovering that no: “apparently, we haven't been there for decades! It's something I learned, ”she laughs in the documentary. The 29-year-old was selected because she works as a medical assistant at St Jude's Pediatric Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, a facility for which Jared Isaacman has launched a huge fundraiser. One of the donors secured the seat of "generosity": Chris Sembroski, 42, is a former US Air Force employee who now works in the aviation industry.

The last seat represents "prosperity," and was offered to Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old earth science professor who, in 2009, almost became an astronaut for NASA. She will be only the fourth African American woman to go to space. The crew has been training for several months. They experienced the g-force to which they will be exposed thanks to a centrifuge, a rapidly rotating arm of several meters. On board parabolic flights, they were able to taste a feeling of weightlessness. They also did a high altitude snow trek on Mount Rainier in the Northwestern United States.

Finally, they spent time on SpaceX premises, although the flight would normally remain fully automated.

During the three days in orbit, their sleep, heart rate, blood and cognitive abilities will be analyzed.

Tests will be carried out before and after the flight, to study the effect of the trip on their body.

The idea is to accumulate data for future private passengers.

Because the stated goal of the mission is to open the doors of space to a greater number, although these remain for the moment only partially open for a privileged few.

"In all of human history, less than 600 human beings have reached space," Jared Isaacman recalled in a statement last month.

“We are proud that our flight can help everyone who will fly after us.

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