INSPIRATION4 TO BE LAUNCHED

INSPIRATION4 TO BE LAUNCHED

Context:

Elon Musk’s SpaceX recently announced that ‘Inspiration4’, its first all-civilian, non-governmental spaceflight, is on track for launch on September 15.

About Inspiration4:

• It involves circling the Earth for 3 days and then splashing down into the Atlantic Ocean.
• It will orbit the Earth at 575km, higher than the International Space Station (408km) and the Hubble space telescope (547km).
• It will be launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida in the US.
• It will take a group of 4 private citizens into space for 3 days.
• All 4 seats on the spacecraft have been purchased by US billionaire Jared Isaacman, founder of the fintech company Shift4 Payments.
• It will be the farthest distance travelled by a crewed mission since 2009, when astronauts last went to repair the Hubble.
• The Dragon module that the group will be using has also been modified for the mission.
• This is a part of an effort to raise millions for the Tennessee-based St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a paediatric treatment and research facility that focuses on children’s catastrophic diseases, particularly leukaemia and other cancers.