SpaceX set to launch first all-civilian crew into orbit

Four civilians will be over the moon when they become the first all-civilian crew launched into space on Wednesday, a historic moment for Elon Musk's efforts to demonstrate the potential of privatized space travel.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft are set to launch the Inspiration4 mission at 8:02 p.m. EDT from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The trip will take the crew to an apogee of approximately 575 kilometers in space, further than the International Space Station and the current orbit of the Hubble Space Telescope. The crew will return to Earth approximately three days later, reaching one of the landing sites near the coast of Florida.

"I’ve be been waiting for this moment all my life. Thank you for all the well wishes & support. Let’s do this!" one of the four crew members tweeted Wednesday.

While the crew members are civilians, all four, whose names were announced in March, have experience in scientific study, air travel, or military training. Jared Isaacman, the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments and a pilot, will command the Inspiration4 mission. His three other crew members are Medical Officer Hayley Arceneaux, a St. Jude Children's Research Hospital employee and physician assistant; Mission Specialist Chris Sembroski, a data engineer and Air Force veteran; and Mission Pilot Dr. Sian Proctor, a geology professor and finalist for the 2009 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Astronaut Selection Process.

The crew is planning on conducting health research during the three-day trip to increase medical knowledge of the toll of space exploration on the human body. This research will include experiments on human health and performance. SpaceX, the Translational Research Institute for Space Health at Baylor College of Medicine, and investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine will also collect environmental and biomedical data and biological samples from Inspiration4’s crew members before, during, and after the spaceflight.

“The crew of Inspiration4 is eager to use our mission to help make a better future for those who will launch in the years and decades to come,” Isaacman said. “In all of human history, fewer than 600 humans have reached space. We are proud that our flight will help influence all those who will travel after us and look forward to seeing how this mission will help shape the beginning of a new era for space exploration.”

The mission aims to raise $200 million for St. Jude to benefit children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Arceneaux , a pediatric cancer survivor and St. Jude employee, was invited by Issacman in honor of the fundraiser, an opportunity she called "life-changing."

“Honestly, I’m not nervous at all. I am just so excited,” she said.
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