First Civilian Crew Splashes Down In The Atlantic
After three days orbiting Earth, the first civilian crew of astronauts of Inspiration4 flying aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft safely splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 7:06 p.m. EDT Saturday. The return marks the completion of the world’s first all-civilian human spaceflight to orbit, which launched on a flight-proven SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021.
Dragon performed a series of departure phasing burns to leave the circular orbit of 357 miles and then jettisoned its trunk ahead of its deorbit burn. After re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft deployed its two drogue and four main parachutes in preparation for the soft water landing.
Upon splashdown, the Inspiration4 astronauts were welcomed home by the SpaceX team and quickly brought on board the recovery vessel. SpaceX transported Dragon back to Cape Canaveral for inspections and refurbishment ahead of future human spaceflight missions.
The mission completed several historic firsts, including the:
First all-civilian human spaceflight to orbit
First black female spacecraft pilot
Youngest American in space
First person to fly to space with a prosthetic
Farthest flight for a human spaceflight since the Hubble missions
First time SpaceX has operated three Dragons in space
First free-flight of a Dragon spacecraft on a human spaceflight mission
Largest contiguous window ever flown in space
First splashdown of a Dragon crew in the Atlantic Ocean
First thrice-flown Falcon 9 booster to launch a human spaceflight mission
Inspiration4 was commanded by Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments and an accomplished pilot and adventurer. Joining him are Medical Officer Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and pediatric cancer survivor; Mission Specialist Chris Sembroski, an Air Force veteran and aerospace data engineer; and Mission Pilot Dr. Sian Proctor, a geoscientist, entrepreneur, and trained pilot.
The first civilian crew flew aboard Dragon farther than any human spaceflight since the Hubble missions. Dragon’s new cupola observation dome is the largest contiguous space window ever flown. Designed, tested, and qualified for flight in six months, it replaced the mechanism used on Dragon’s previous flight to autonomously dock to the International Space Station. The three-layer observation dome was put through an extensive qualification process, including thermal, vibration, structural environments, and life-cycle to verify capability.
Finally, true to the mission’s name and purpose, Inspriation4 has raised nearly $154 million dollars and counting for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
(Source: Inspiration4 and SpaceX news releases. Image credits SpaceX)