SpaceX Makes History by Sending Civilian Crew to Orbit
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For the first time in history, an all-civilian crew has been launched on a private spacecraft to circle the earth, courtesy of SpaceX
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The team of amateur astronauts set off on the space journey on Wednesday and will return only after 3 days
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This is the first time that a rocket will fly towards orbit with a crew that has no professional astronaut
SpaceX has launched the Inspiration4 crew out of the Kennedy Space Center in a Dragon capsule as they are set to orbit the earth for 3 days.
The crew reportedly consists of four amateurs -one billionaire and three “ordinary citizens”.
This will be the first time that a rocket will set for orbit with a few that contains no professional astronaut.
The crew is going to be led by 38-year-old billionaire Jared Isaacman who made his fortune from founding payment-processing company Shift4Payments.
Isaacman becomes the third billionaire to leave earth this year, after Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson’s space flights in July.
Isaac man will be joined by Chris Sembroski, Hayley Arceneaux, and Sian Proctor.
About the space journey
The four civilians will spend three days orbiting the earth at extremely high altitudes of 575km 160km before returning to the Florida Coast by the weekend.
Although the rocket is automated for to and fro flight, the riders have undergone 6 months of training to enable them to cope with emergencies.
Isaacmanwill will reportedly cover the bill of the space journey which is expected to cost several millions of dollars.
SpaceX’s next private journey will see a former Nasa astronaut, accompany three rich civilians on a journey to the space station for a week.
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