SpaceX Launches First All-Tourist Crew Into Orbit (cnn.com) 127
SpaceX has successfully launched the crew of Inspiration4 into orbit. It's the first-ever orbital flight crewed entirely by tourists. From a report: The SpaceX rocket blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center just after 8 p.m. ET. The crew includes 38-year-old billionaire Jared Isaacman, who personally financed the trip; Hayley Arceneux, 29, a childhood cancer survivor and current St. Jude physician assistant; Sian Proctor, 51, a geologist and community college teacher with a PhD; and Chris Sembroski, a 42-year-old Lockheed Martin employee and lifelong space fan who claimed his seat through an online raffle. The passengers will now spend three days aboard their 13-foot-wide Crew Dragon capsule in orbit at a 350-mile altitude.
Great Success! (Score:3, Funny)
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"and isn't fueled by the lost bathroom the lost bathroom breaks of Amazon employees."
They even have a dome window on the toilet of the spaceship, replacing the not-needed docking airlock.
"All tourist" is derogatory (Score:2, Interesting)
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Four quite accomplished human beings were launched into orbit today. Why call them "tourists" when they will be contributing to space science?
For some reason the check mark box crowd wanted them to be tourists.
But seriously, does every time Spacex has a launch, it has to be groundbreaking thing, never before done? Reminds me of people that keep track of baseball stats.
Re: "All tourist" is derogatory (Score:2)
Re: "All tourist" is derogatory (Score:5, Insightful)
The commander of the flight is an accomplished person. The other 3 are basically regular civilians. IMO this completely redefines the elite astronaut requirements for space flight. JJustto add to how ground breaking this is, they will be up there for multiple days and at a distance quite a bit further that the international space station orbit.
I think that was pretty well redefined when Old man John Glenn went to orbit on the shuttle. Just like this, it was pretty much a publicity stunt.
I mean this is fine, I suppose, but At least for me, all these "firsts" seem kind of made up. Reminds me of when everyone went insane over 2 women doing a spacewalk at the same time, like it was an incredible feat, the very pinnacle of the Space program. Which was strange because by that time, women were spacewalking as a regular and expected occurrence, and I challenged many to name the first spacewalking women, Russian and American, without looking it up.
No one could.
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I know the name of the first woman in space, but I couldn;t spell it since it is in Russian
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I know the name of the first woman in space, but I couldn;t spell it since it is in Russian
Valentina Tereshkova
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but I couldn;t spell it since it is in Russian
Valentina Tereshkova
Woosh!! Correct spelling begins "Ba..." but we literally cannot spell it on slashdot.
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The coverage of two women spacewalking at the same time wasn't because it was some kind of great accomplishment, it's because people were surprised that so many decades after human spaceflight started it hadn't already happened.
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People weren't surprised, they were told to be surprised. It would have been a completely non-story blip if the news didn't try so hard to make it a big deal. Space walks were relatively rare, space walks including two people more so, so of course it didn't happen 2 weeks after the first ever time two women were in space. Not sure why it matters to anyone what gender the astronauts are other than perhaps making sure some bias isn't blocking people from access to begin with.
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It matters because 9 in 10 astronauts so far have been men.
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People weren't surprised, they were told to be surprised. It would have been a completely non-story blip if the news didn't try so hard to make it a big deal. Space walks were relatively rare, space walks including two people more so, so of course it didn't happen 2 weeks after the first ever time two women were in space. Not sure why it matters to anyone what gender the astronauts are other than perhaps making sure some bias isn't blocking people from access to begin with.
What it is is a mad combination of things. That the media has a sexism issue. It's called Schrödinger's woman. But strong and independent, and in constant need of being the assigned victim. I don't know if it is generational forgetting of history or internalized misandry, or just a particular group that is loathe to let go of the special "always the victim" status of women.
I'm firmly convinced that some people presumably fighting for equality don't actually want equality. Because there won't be such
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But just as we seldom hear about the only person to win two Nobel prizes, Marie Curie
Linus Pauling also won two Nobel prizes (Chemistry and Peace).
Also seldom hear? [wikipedia.org]
The Peace prize is pretty much virtue signaling.
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The coverage of two women spacewalking at the same time wasn't because it was some kind of great accomplishment, it's because people were surprised that so many decades after human spaceflight started it hadn't already happened.
I was sort of surprised too. But a DDG of "First woman spacewalker shows mostly news about this presumed historic event, and it is all about women empowerment.
I didn't see anyone expressing surprise, although ther was a fair amount of striking back at the evil of domineering men. As written on Twitter "The spacewalkers are women, Ground IV is a woman, the public affairs speaker is a woman, I'm cryin #AllWomanSpacewalk #WomenInSTEM
Which is by it's very definition, raging matriarchal sexism, declaring
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It's your bubble. My primary Twitter feed was full of people surprised it hadn't happened before, and nothing about "striking back".
The tweet you quoted can't be found anymore, maybe it was deleted. These social networks are terrible for skewing your view of events.
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John Glenn going up as an old man redefined the physical standard, but he was still an accomplished fighter pilot, test pilot, former astronaut, etc. Even in that era NASA wasn't sending someone up who would be deadweight. They still had a useful mission for him even if it mostly was a publicity stunt.
This also redefines the standard but instead of it being a physical one its in qualifications. The Dragon 2 is automated enough you don't need qualified astronauts to fly it.
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Christa McAuliffe was the first stunt astronaut, if that had worked out we would have seen more of them earlier.
I don't remember who said it- seems like Story Musgrave- she had no business on a shuttle flight because she had no idea the danger she was putting herself in. Most people were lulled into a sense of security, but someone with enough engineering to be an astronaut was in a position to comprehend how crazy dangerous it was.
The same is probably true of these folks, but the Falcon9/Dragon combo is co
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Christa McAuliffe was the first stunt astronaut, if that had worked out we would have seen more of them earlier.
I don't remember who said it- seems like Story Musgrave- she had no business on a shuttle flight because she had no idea the danger she was putting herself in. Most people were lulled into a sense of security, but someone with enough engineering to be an astronaut was in a position to comprehend how crazy dangerous it was.
The same is probably true of these folks, but the Falcon9/Dragon combo is considerably safer than the shuttle, so at least its got that going for it.
Musgrave is a dyed in the wool character.
I agree about the time of the "Teacher in Space" program, there was some idea that it was all reduced to practice. Events proved otherwise.
Yeah, it is dangerous. I'd still go.
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Who was the first black congress person in the USA? The first non-white governor? Are you saying that because relatively few people might know the answers without Google that it was stupid and or pointless to celebrate at that moment in time?
These four people represent everyday people and the trip didn't include a single person like John Glenn who had spent a lifetime training as a pilot and then as an astronaut. This is the flight where random people have a honest reason to be hopeful that they might one d
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Who was the first black congress person in the USA? The first non-white governor?
Since people with dark complexions of African descent are regularly elected to political positions, I don't look into the matter.
What I don't want to be told is when someone is elected today, that it is a historic first, or like some folks have been told, the two ladies who were spacewalking were the first women that ever spacewalked. I posted the link in another post.
Are you saying that because relatively few people might know the answers without Google that it was stupid and or pointless to celebrate at that moment in time?
I believe I said something really unambiguous, but I'll say it again.
Women have been astronauts for many years. Since the introduction
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"So you are saying that these peopel were just plain old people walking down the street"
Considering one only got there from a raffle I'm going to assume that you truly are as fucking stupid as I thought you were. Good luck with that.
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"So you are saying that these peopel were just plain old people walking down the street"
Considering one only got there from a raffle I'm going to assume that you truly are as fucking stupid as I thought you were. Good luck with that.
U mad bro?
If you figure that sending an all civilian crew is something to throw a party about, have at it. There are a lot of people in the world who don't have a tall entertainment threshold.
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Sian Proctor has more qualifications than Isaacman, and Sembroski certainly has some relevant experience too. Arceneaux is the only one who I'd call a regular person.
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But seriously, does every time Spacex has a launch, it has to be groundbreaking thing, never before done?
Not every launch, in 2021 SpaceX launched 22 times so far, in 2020 it launched 25 times, I am pretty sure not all of them got press and /. attention.
It is also worth noting that SpaceX has done lot's of groundbreaking things, especially considering not government sponsored access to space, e.g. they own the most powerful operational rocket and are the only company owning a crew rated orbital spacecraft.
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But seriously, does every time Spacex has a launch, it has to be groundbreaking thing, never before done? Reminds me of people that keep track of baseball
Amazon stooge or borscht eater?
I do likes me some borscht on occasion.
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So, if a professional structural engineer goes on vacation, visits ancient buildings and ruins in Rome and wonders about how the Romans constructed such things 2,000 years ago without modern tools and materials (same as any tourist would), that's not a tourist because "professional"?
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They would technically be tourists because they don't fit the description for government astronauts or private astronauts.
Government astronauts will be from some government agency or branch of the military, probably NASA but active duty members of the military have gone to space separate of NASA before. I would expect at some point for the Space Force to have an astronaut corps.
Private astronauts will be going to space on behalf of their employer.
This crew were neither of those things. They, well Isaacman,
Re:"All tourist" is derogatory (Score:4, Interesting)
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I don't see being called a Tourist being derogatory.
It is usually from the Locals who may not always like them, because a small number of Tourist are often a lot of trouble.
For example, I live where there is wonderful fall foliage, so I get tourists coming up from the big cities for a vacation and are Leaf Peepers, Most of them other than the extra traffic in fall isn't that big of a deal. Then you get some people who think it is good idea to stop in a middle of a major road to take a picture, which is kin
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That is A goal not the only goal. A bigger goal is to sent people to space as workers. People who are producing a product or performing services in space.
A substantial space station with a large group of researchers would need to have a regular crew of maintenance technicians, cleaners and yes cooks.
A lunar mining base with truck drivers and heavy equipment operators and all the other staff required for mining and building things on the moon. "Normal" people (hopefully more stable than the average bu
Definitely will redefine perspectives (Score:2)
Re:Definitely will redefine perspectives (Score:5, Informative)
1. actual orbits
2. Orbiting significantly higher than the ISS.
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Re #2
Third highest crewed Earth orbit in history, behind Gemini 11 and Gemini 10.
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STS-31 [wikipedia.org] in 1990 had a perigee of 613 km and apogee of 615 km, vs. 585 km for Inspiration4.
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I stand corrected. Thank you.
Probably all the Hubble missions were higher than 585km, then.
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But that's just one of the 3 criteria:
Commercial launch crew members must be employed by an FAA-certified company performing the launch; they must reach an altitude higher than 50 miles above the surface of the Earth during flight; and they must have demonstrated activities during the mission that were "essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety."
All of this crew satisfies 1 and 2, but I suspect only the commander and pilot qualify for #3. Or given how automated the spacecraft is, maybe none will qualify.
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There's chatter about various experiments the others will be performing while in space, but I don't know enough details to know if it will qualify them for wings.
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Isn't the criteria that they have to meaningfully contribute to the mission?
TFA is light on detail about what they are actually doing up there. Generally speaking people who don't fly the spacecraft but do perform some other important work, like experiments, get their wings.
The exact line isn't very clear, Branson was supposedly testing out the "customer experience" and that didn't qualify.
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Demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety.
https://www.faa.gov/documentLi... [faa.gov]
Given the automated nature of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, it could be possible for it to carry multiple people and zero astronauts. If these were the rules all along, could there have been some shuttle mission specialists who wouldn't qualify?
Contributing to
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Re: Definitely will redefine perspectives (Score:3, Interesting)
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Hayley Arceneaux, a 29-year-old cancer survivor who now works as a physician assistant at St. Jude, the hospital where she was treated, in Memphis, Tennessee. She'll be the first person with a prosthetic body part — she has a partial prothetic femur — to go to space, and she'll serve as the flight's chief medical officer.
So yes, there are new contribution to human space flight safety.
Aside from this, I think the ruling logic to not disqualify shuttle mission specialists in the past is as follows:
In a space shuttle, everyone can potentially participate in driving the space shuttle, change orbit, delay or abort the trip early etc. Similarly, although Crew Dragon spacecrafts are highly automated compared to NASA space shuttles, the crews in SpaceX capsule can still drive manually if in need, unlike the two other space tour
Re: Definitely will redefine perspectives (Score:2)
Is this really the list now? If it doesn't include space science then I think a chunk of NASA astronauts can be ruled out.
I read the article from another source and one of the experiments they are doing is brewing space beer. See this kind of research is vital as man reaches out to the stars.
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I don't know. Do Jake Garn's contributions to the study of SAS count? I mean the garn is now the SI unit for space sickness.
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The whole crew of Inspiration4 trained for months on various scenarios of troubleshooting or taking over in an emergency. They're clearly qualified as astronauts. The purpose of the rule is to disqualify those who aren't trained to operate or troubleshoot but simply to sit around and look out the window.
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Demonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety.
Since of those four people has a prosthesis, perhaps participating in this flight might count as contributing to human space flight safety if there's some medical study involved?
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But will they get to sport astronaut wings? There was the redefinition by FAA regarding astronaut wings after Branson and Bezos flights
I can understand the excitement and desire for these four people to get the Commercial Space Astronaut Wings, but the FAA is taking a longer view. The document on the FAA page says "In order to maintain the prestige of Commercial Space Astronaut Wings, the FAA may further refine the eligibility requirements at any time as it deems appropriate."
As space tourism grows, there can be a time when a capsule is launched with 2 crew members and 12 tourists on their way to a space hotel. Without some sort of crite
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Excuse me. I sat in the emergency row so I had a very important public safety obligation and extensive 30 second training.
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Do like I do and ask if they want you to practice. They've always told me no.
If one actually tells you yes, the other passengers may be pissed with you, but you won't get into trouble. After all, you are required by Federal Law to obey "all crew-member instructions".
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Lack of excitement is impressive (Score:5, Insightful)
The very routine launch with recovery of the first stage along with the great quality video (with the exception of the first stage landing) is very impressive and really showed a level of maturity in the SpaceX hardware that I don't think is matched by any other company. It should also be noted that a Falcon 9 (with Starlink) was launched two days ago so the team is well practiced.
I'm sure that there was nervousness and cross fingers behind the scenes but a very smooth start to the flight.
Yes, really cool to see (Score:1)
You basically just expect them to go up and down OK these days, especially from SpaceX...
Really inspiring trip that I can only hope becomes way more commonplace and cheaper as time goes by!
Limits (Score:2)
I can only hope becomes way more commonplace
That would be quite possible as companies like SpaceX have shown to be capable to build very reliable hardware (partially thanks to it being recoverable and thus analyzable and improved).
BUT...
and cheaper as time goes by!
...but that's going to be much harder to achieve.
Delta-V is a bitch. As is the amount of fuel required to reach it. And the Tsiolkovsky equation that govern those.
Getting to orbit is still going to be bloody expensive for any close future simply requires insane amount of fuel.
Even if the price of the vehicle you are p
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Re:Lack of excitement is impressive (Score:4, Interesting)
Having seen hundreds of launches in person over my lifetime, I think this was one of the most spectacular, given the combination of dark, clear skies yet being soon enough after sunset where the Sun could still illuminate things once it got high enough. I mostly watched the launch through binoculars, but the returning first stage was still clearly visible with the naked eye, even the pulsing of the thrusters. Way cool.
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What I loved about watching the launch was the juxtaposition of how routine the whole thing felt on the outside, and then when they showed inside the Dragon the crew would be fist bumping, pumping their fists, giving thumbs up, and I think I even saw a couple metal hands here or there. Those folks were PUMPED, and you could feel it pouring off the screen every time they showed them. Then they'd pull back and show the engines or the outside camera on stage 1 and it just felt standard and routine.
I guess (Score:2)
That someone needs to build a space resort to stop at.
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You jest, but that's pretty much exactly what someone should be planning. Nothing will open space up quite like cheap(er) flights, and having a place to go will, in the long run, drive prices downwards....
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This is one of several currently being planned for [orbitalassembly.com]. (Scroll down a bit for their "luxury hotel" plan.) I think their timeline may be a bit ambitious, but barring an accident I'm pretty sure they'll have at least one of these operational before my life is over. And I hope I'll have the funds to be able to visit one of them.
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Bigelow is working on it
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Bigelow is working on it
Bigelow threw a tantrum when the lockdowns were ordered and fired everybody at Bigelow Aerospace. No one has been rehired. No one is likely to ever accept a position with him again, at this point. No one wants to work for a petulant child, and the former employees were more than capable of getting jobs elsewhere in the industry, taking their knowledge, experience, and skills with them. Bigelow has some CAD drawings and three prototypes, one of which is still attached to ISS. More than likely his former
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Oh. That sucks
Meanwhile (Score:2)
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I'm just thinking how it would have been cheaper for Jeff to have just booked a flight in the Dragon capsule, and he would have actually completed orbits, unlike his 60km vomit comet amusement park ride.
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Jeff Bezos is has checked into a exclusive resort where he will be enjoying a much needed rest from his full time job suing Space-X. He checked into a luxury suite with padded walls and around the clock attendants.
You tease, you got our hopes up.
If it's any consolation if Bezos had any hair left I'm sure he would have pulled it all out yesterday. Guy has a serious jealousy/hate boner for the other private space companies, particularly Space-X. I can't imagine he's pleasant to be around this week. Or ever, but particularly this week.
unusually beautiful launch (Score:5, Interesting)
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Watched this from the Orlando area. That was far and away the most beautiful and unusual launch I've ever seen. The atmosphere and sun angle were perfect for showing every detail including the blooming of the exhaust as it transitioned to space, shock waves, etc. It was so unusual I thought something was wrong. Hopefully some video will come out that really shows what the human eye could see. I haven't found one yet though.
Elon planned it that way. 8^)
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I sincerely hope he did and had a camera ready to catch it. The thing is though, looking at pics taken from the coast, I think I had the better perspective in the Orlando area. Don't know that anybody would have anticipated that and put a camera prepared to handle capturing the low light detail in this area. To really capture the real time detail of the shock waves, thruster firings, etc. would have taken a very high end and large lens.
You probably saw the separation of the first stage? That's always cool.
Another cool launch event is launching the Atlas Rocket, speaking of thinking somethings wrong. They burn off hydrogen right at launch, which looks like a rapid disassembly will happen in a second, but it doesn't. GEt your Atlas viewing in while you can. ULA is transitioning to a new Rocket, the Vulcan.
You've probably figured out by now that I'm a real Rocket slut.. 8^)
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You've probably figured out by now that I'm a real Rocket slut.. 8^)
They have medication for that now as well as ointments for the burns.
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You're thinking of the Delta IV with its RS-68 hydrolox engines.
The Altas V runs an RD-180 kerolox engine. Still a fun one to see launch, especially in the 411 config. Powerslide for the win!
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You're thinking of the Delta IV with its RS-68 hydrolox engines.
The Altas V runs an RD-180 kerolox engine. Still a fun one to see launch, especially in the 411 config. Powerslide for the win!
And, you are 100 percent correct - yikes! I must have had Atlas on the noggin or something. Thanks for the correction.
For those of us wondering what we're talking about - here's the Delta IV launch and it's always concerning liftoff https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
The Atlas https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] That thing does shit and git.
Which brings up another thing - As a kid, I watched the Saturn V launches in school, loved them.
Then after becoming an adult, I was amazed at how old man Satur
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I think I had the better perspective in the Orlando area.
I dunno. I watched through binoculars from southern Brevard, and it was pretty damned spectacular.
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It was really spectacular from Charleston SC, too. The launch was just after sunset so once the rocket was high enough you could see the whole exhaust plume lit up by the sunlight against the night sky. And then it passed almost directly in front of the moon.
If someone planned that timing my hat's off to them.
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It was really spectacular from Charleston SC, too. The launch was just after sunset so once the rocket was high enough you could see the whole exhaust plume lit up by the sunlight against the night sky. And then it passed almost directly in front of the moon.
If someone planned that timing my hat's off to them.
Darnit! I have a history of missing some nice launches.
Here's a tale of heartbreak and woe. I never got to see a Shuttle launch. I was down in Florida, when there was one, visiting the In-Laws, and planned to go see it. Well, it all was going okay, but got delayed or something, then the MIL had planned a beach day on her day off, and I was put under intense pressure to go along.
So we're all sitting on the Beach (Flagler) and even up there, we all heard the launch rumble. Everyone looked at me. I just
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I've had the privilege of watching two (un-crewed) launches of SpaceX rockets from NorCal so I can imagine. The 2nd one was clear enough for me to see things like the retro firing to return, even though I was that far away. The most amazing thing is the flare like you say. It's basically a man-made noctilucent cloud with a very distinct shape this one had an iridescent color too. Alas, I too lacked the proper equipment to capture it faithfully and just got one blurry, fuzzy, underxposed shot that isn't
I don't get it... (Score:2)
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The Tesl^H^H^H^HSpceX AutoPilot with Full Self Driv^H^H^H^HFlying module is guiding the capsule on it's entire journey.
Flat earthers? (Score:2)
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Not at all, you'll see the Earth is round from their point of view. Round like a dinner plate, but still flat. On the back it says DO NOT MICROWAVE
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Ha! Turtles can't read.
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But Cthulhu can, worship Him lest he eat you last and you have to watch those you love suffer.
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Hah! I knew it! I knew all those global... err discal warming people were wrong with that CO2!
Someone ignored the microwave safety tag and we're all paying the price.
What about bathroom? (Score:2)
I always wonder how they solve the bathroom for such a mission. 3 days on a 13 foot capsule. Are there diapers that can hold 3 days of human waste?
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There's a toilet on board - the ISS crew also have to spend a pretty significant time on board the Dragon capsule before arriving so it's a standard feature
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I was curious about this too. There's a panel near where the cupola is, and that conceals the toilet most of the time. This leads to some awkward scenarios of course like, "I know you're enjoying the view but I've got business to take care of" and there will have to be plenty of "look away guys" times. I'm sure it's covered in the training. We just don't hear a lot about it which might contribute to it being such a subject of enduring fascination. I don't even know if everybody in the crew always has t
That's LUNCH! (Score:2)
Not "LAUNCH"!
Just this once... (Score:5, Interesting)
Just this once, let us be happy for our fellow humans' achievement, and not try to downplay it saying they were "tourists". Add in Branson, and "as much as I have no personal love for" Bezos, to the list.
We have achieved something nice in 2021. Spaceflight is once again possible for us measly humans, and let's celebrate this.
Amateur astronauts (Score:2)
Glad the headline here calls them "tourists". It bothers me that in most media this gets called "first all-civilian flight". It is my understanding that the whole of NASA was very intentionally founded as a civilian organisation (versus a military one), as the Soviet Union had its space programme completely tied up with its armed forces. There haven't been that many outright military astronauts from the USA, have there?
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Show me the NASA launch that didn't have a person "on loan" from the military. NASA has never been civilian. It's full of people on loan from the various military branches.
Hey, post the link to the fund-raiser (Score:2)
Yes, this is a space "tour", that's obviously one of the points they're trying to make: if it's safe enough for an ordinary tourist, it's safe enough for you.
But it's also a fund-raising campaign [stjude.org] for St. Jude's Research Hospital for Children. One of the crew, Hayley Arceneaux, is not only a PA at the Hospital, she is a former patient. You won't find a better spokesperson for both the Hospital and for space tourism, IMHO. This woman has true grit.
I don't normally go in for human-interest stories about space
There is a Netflix documentary (Score:2)
Maximum Dynamic Pressure? (Score:2)
Why do all rockets need to "throttle down" in order to deal with maximum dynamic pressure? Why can't you design one that doesn't have that issue?
Not tourists (Score:2)
They're doing actual work while up there running various experiments.