SpaceX‘s Crew Dragon spaceship will be equipped with a domed window for the world’s first all-civilian mission to space later this year, Inspiration4.
The company posted an artist’s impression of the specially modified Crew Dragon on Twitter with the caption: ‘A new view for crew.’
Crew Dragon’s additional window at the ‘nose’ of the space capsule will let its four passengers take in incredible panoramic views of Earth.
The historic mission is set to launch from NASA‘s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 15 this year.
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The four crew members will be able to pop their head up to the top of Crew Dragon to enjoy out-of-this-world views
SpaceX posted an artist’s impression of the specially modified Crew Dragon on Twitter with the caption: ‘A new view for crew’
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of SpaceX, said the design was ‘probably [the] most ‘in space’ you could possibly feel by being in a glass dome’.
It was revealed shortly after a press conference where SpaceX revealed the final two Inspiration4 crew members.
The new passengers are Sian Proctor, a community college educator in Tempe, Arizona, and Chris Sembroski, a former Air Force missileman from Everett, Washington.
They join flight billionaire founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments Jared Isaacman, who purchased the flight, and Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, who was revealed as a winner earlier this year.
Dubbed Inspiration4, the mission is designed primarily to raise awareness and support for the pediatric cancer center, which successfully treated Arceneaux for bone cancer when she was a child.
Although this is not the first time civilians have travelled to space, it is the first mission manned solely by civilians.
The four-person team, which will be under the command of Isaacman, will be launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on its voyage.
Dragon will only orbit Earth for three days, completing one orbit every 90 minutes along a customized flight path as it travels at more than 17,000 miles per hour.
Its progress will be carefully monitored at every step by SpaceX mission control.
Jared Isaacman, from left to right, Hayley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor and Chris Sembroski form the Inspiration4 crew
Pictured, Inspiration4 mission commander Jared Isaacman, founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments
SpaceX says: ‘Upon conclusion of the mission, Dragon will reenter Earth’s atmosphere for a soft water landing off the coast of Florida.’
The Inspiration4 crew will receive commercial astronaut training by SpaceX on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft, orbital mechanics, operating in low gravity and other forms of stress testing before travelling.
‘There will be several months of training,’ Isaacman previously told DailyMail.com.
A shot of the Inspiration4 suit, adorned with a patch representing the mission’s four pillars – leadership, hope, generosity and prosperity
Crew Dragon’s 365lbs cargo capacity will be allocated for both crew essentials as well as scientific equipment dedicated to micro-gravity research and experimentation.
‘While we are up there we are going to bring payloads and do experiments,’ Isaacman said.
‘We offered to take payloads from St. Jude’s and other places because the wait list is extremely long.’
Following the announcement of Inspiration4 back in February, Musk told NBC News: ‘Any mission where there’s a crew onboard makes me nervous. The risk is not zero.’
‘When you’ve got a brand new mode of transportation, you have to have pioneers. Things are expensive at first, and as you’re able to increase the launch rate, increase the production rate, refine the technology, it becomes less expensive and accessible to more people.
‘We’ll all be with Jared on the journey and we’ll be seeing it in real time. It’s an important milestone on the road toward making access to space more affordable.’
A few days later, a 30-second advertisement was broadcast during the SuperBowl break, directing potential Inspiration4 craw members to apply on its website.
The ad displays a simple, but elegant, close-up shots of a SpaceX Suit, adorned with a patch representing the mission’s four pillars – leadership, hope, generosity and prosperity.
These four pillars also correspond to the four members of the crew – Isaacman, Arceneaux, Sembroski and Proctor, respectively, according to the Inspiration4 website.
SPACEX CREW DRAGON CAPSULE MEASURES 20FT AND CAN CARRY 7 ASTRONAUTS AT A TIME
The March 2 test, the first launch of U.S. astronauts from U.S. soil in eight years, will inform the system design and operations (Artist’s impression)
The capsule measures about 20 feet tall by 12 feet in diameter, and will carry up to 7 astronauts at a time.
The Crew Dragon features an advanced emergency escape system (which was tested earlier this year) to swiftly carry astronauts to safety if something were to go wrong, experiencing about the same G-forces as a ride at Disneyland.
It also has an Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) that provides a comfortable and safe environment for crew members.
Crew Dragon’s displays will provide real-time information on the state of the spacecraft’s capabilities, showing everything from Dragon’s position in space, to possible destinations, to the environment on board.
Those CRS-2 Dragon missions will use ‘propulsive’ landings, where the capsule lands on a landing pad using its SuperDraco thrusters rather than splashing down in the ocean.
That will allow NASA faster access to the cargo returned by those spacecraft, and also build up experience for propulsive landings of crewed Dragon spacecraft.
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