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| SpaceX launches into space tourism this week |
Four non-professional astronauts plan to take off in a SpaceX capsule on Wednesday evening.
Billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist Jared Isakman booked a Crew Dragon capsule last year and picked three regular people to ride it. This will be the first fully private orbital mission.
Like many recent spaceflights, the mission called " Inspiration 4" attempts to convince the general public on Earth that space doesn't always belong to government officials and the wealthy.
The Inspiration 4 crew is scheduled to launch Wednesday via a Falcon 9 rocket, in the same Crew Dragon capsule that sent four government astronauts to the International Space Station nearly a year ago.
The target for this mission is at an altitude of about 128 kilometers from the International Space Station (ISS). They saw Earth in orbit through two windows and a new glass dome installed above the capsule.
Three days later, based on Florida weather, the crew re-entered the atmosphere and landed in the Atlantic Ocean.
SpaceX's recovery team can hit the capsule, lift it to the ship, pick up the crew, and then bring them ashore.
The crew began training in March, about seven months before takeoff. These include eccentric exercises to adapt to the massive gravity of the rocket launch, a microgravity experience on a weightless flight and several weeks of on-site training to familiarize passengers with the Crew Dragon capsule.
SpaceX launches into space tourism this week
If all goes according to plan, Inspiration 4 will be SpaceX's first fully private mission developed under NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
The program funded the development of two competing space capsules - Boeing's Crew Dragon and Starliner - as means of transporting NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.
For the commercial crew program, NASA is the customer, not the owner of the spacecraft. The main objective of the plan is to stimulate the commercial aviation market.
The plan set aside nearly $3 billion for SpaceX and about $5 billion for Boeing to help with the launch.
Mission Inspiration 4 is the fourth manned flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. However, it remains to be seen if private space tourism can be provided to a greater number of passengers.
The Crew Dragon seat costs about $55 million, and the Starliner seat is about $90 million.
The space tourism industry is going through a phase backed by billions of dollars in support. To avoid this step, the cost of making and launching missiles should be drastically reduced.