What is Inspiration4, SpaceX’s first all-civilian space mission?

What is the News?

SpaceX has announced that it is planning to launch the Inspiration4 mission by September 15.

About Inspiration4 mission:

Inspiration4 is a spaceflight planned for four people aboard the SpaceX Resilience capsule.

The three-day flight will be the first human spaceflight to orbit Earth with exclusively private citizens on board.

The flight will be privately operated by SpaceX using a previously-flown Crew Dragon capsule launched to low Earth orbit.  

The objective of the Inspiration4 mission

The mission involves circling the Earth for three days and then splashing down into the Atlantic Ocean.

It will orbit the Earth at 575 km, higher than the International Space Station (408 km) and the Hubble Space Telescope (547 km).This will be the farthest distance travelled by a crewed mission since 2009, when astronauts last went to repair the Hubble.

Significance of the Inspiration4 mission

The mission 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.

Moreover, the mission will also present an opportunity for collecting large amounts of health data that will aid in planning future crewed space missions.

Source: This post is based on the article “What is Inspiration4, SpaceX’s first all-civilian space mission?” published in Indian Express on 7th September 2021.