SpaceX Inspiration4 launch live: The crew straps in, with 90 minutes to liftoff

CNBC ^ | SEP 15 2021

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SpaceX is aiming to launch the Inspiration4 mission on Wednesday evening from NASA’s facility in Florida. The mission is the first private crew launched to orbit by Elon Musk’s company, and the first time a crew were all nonprofessional astronauts.

Inspiration4 includes commander Jared Isaacman, pilot Sian Proctor, medical officer Hayley Arceneaux, and mission specialist Chris Sembroski. The multiday trip was paid for by Isaacman for an undisclosed amount, with the main goal of the spaceflight to raise $200 million for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

SpaceX is reusing a Falcon 9 rocket booster to launch Inspiration4, as it previously launched two missions to orbit and then landed. The company will once again attempt to recover the booster using its droneship in the Atlantic Ocean:

[PIF]

We’re about 20 years behind where we should be

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Since 1964 when they killed Project Orion : “Mars by 1965, Saturn by 1970”. So working on over 55 years and still not to the first milestone.

[PIF]

FWIW:
The landing barge, Just Read The Instructions’ name was taken from Iain M Banks Culture Series book, “Player of Games”. The Ship is a General Contact Unit, Medium System Vehicle, River Class, larger than 20km. Player of Games takes place in 2083 AD.

General Contact Units (GCUs) are fast, independent, general-purpose vessels which the Culture’s Contact group uses for diplomacy, espionage, subversion and sabotage. The Culture has no policy of non-interference and, to the contrary, often tries to change the course of civilizations of whose behavior it disapproves or which it considers in need of advancement.

GCUs typically have a crew of Contact members, numbering around 300. GCUs’ Minds are sometimes somewhat eccentric.

In the early stages of a conflict, GCUs are able to act as warships until GOU and ROU types become available. Because the Culture is more advanced than most other spacefaring civilizations, GCUs are usually very effective in combat.