This September 16, 2021, image courtesy of Inspiration4 shows the Inspiration4 crew (L-R) Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Christopher Sembroski and Sian Proctor in orbit. SpaceX’s all-civilian Inspiration4 crew spent their first day in orbit conducting scientific research and talking to children at a pediatric cancer hospital, after blasting off on their pioneering mission from Cape Canaveral the night before. Handout / Inspiration4 / AFP
After three days in space, four SpaceX tourists safely returned to Earth on Saturday, successfully completing the first orbital mission in history with no professional astronauts on board.
According to a video feed from SpaceX, the Dragon capsule, whose heat shield allowed it to survive descent, was slowed down by four huge parachutes before splashing into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida at 7:06 p.m. (2306 GMT).
Soon after landing, billionaire captain Jared Isaacman, who sponsored the voyage with the purpose of making space more accessible, remarked, "That was a heck of a ride for us, and we're just getting started."
A SpaceX boat quickly recovered the capsule before the door was opened and the space travelers disembarked one by one, laughing and raising their arms in the air.
They were then on their way to the Kennedy Space Center, where their mission had started the day before.
The mission's declared aim, dubbed Inspiration4, was to promote space democratization by demonstrating that the cosmos can be accessed by people who have not been hand-picked or trained for years.
“Way to go, @Inspiration4x!!!!” Elon Musk, the creator of SpaceX, tweeted after the landing.
The four space rookies — Isaacman and three other Americans — spent three days orbiting Earth, flying further than the International Space Station (ISS) and circled the planet more than 15 times each day at an altitude of roughly 575 kilometers (357 miles).
The other three seats were provided to strangers by Isaacman, who paid SpaceX tens of millions of dollars: Hayley Arceneaux, a 29-year-old nurse; Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old academic; and Chris Sembroski, 42, a US Air Force veteran.
However, the actual cost of the trip has not been divulged by the 38-year-old founder of Shift4 Payments and seasoned pilot.
In comparison to professional astronauts, the Inspiration4 crew bonded over the course of six months of training.
The participants' vital indicators, including as heart rate, sleep, blood oxygen levels, and cognitive capacities, were tracked during the journey in order to research the impact of space on total beginners.
They also took in the view from the capsule's spanking new observation dome, chatted with actor Tom Cruise from the ship, ate pizza, and listened to music.
‘Second space age’
At a news conference following the landing, mission director Todd Ericson remarked, "Welcome to the second space era."
“Space flight becomes considerably more accessible to normal men and women” with its completion.
During the trip, there was just one small difficulty with the capsule's bathroom system, which was swiftly resolved, according to Ericson, who did not provide additional information.
“I've never had a better ride in my life!” After exiting the capsule, Proctor sent out a tweet.
St Jude's Children's Research Hospital, a premier hospital in Tennessee, benefited greatly from the mission. Arceneaux was treated there as a youngster and continues to work there now.
The crew brought different items with them, including a ukulele, which Sembroski performed live from the ship on Friday, and which will now be auctioned off with the money going to the hospital.
Musk's business has already transported humans to space and back three times, after the return of two NASA flights, one in August 2020 and the other in May of this year. Both were returning astronauts from the International Space Station.
The participants of the Inspiration4 mission, unlike NASA astronauts, did not travel to the International Space Station but instead stayed in orbit around the Earth.
The space adventure follows a summer that saw billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos battle it out to reach the last frontier. Their individual suborbital missions, on the other hand, only provided a few minutes of zero gravity.
More space tourism flights are currently being planned by SpaceX. In fact, according to Benji Reed, SpaceX's director of human spaceflight projects, "the number of individuals approaching us through our sales and marketing portals has actually grown considerably."
The next journey, with three businesspeople on board, is slated for January 2022.
