SpaceX has announced a high-priced galactic tourism launch, the first all-civilian private spaceflight mission, which it hopes will fly by the fourth quarter of 2021.
Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman, as well as three crew members to be chosen and funded by Isaacman, his business and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, will be part of the mission, which will use SpaceX’s Dragon crew spacecraft and its Falcon 9 rocket.
The mission is dubbed Inspiration4, and it already has a significant digital presence, including a countdown timer website.
Isaacman will act as the commander of the flight, since the spacecraft flies in a completely automated manner, in the event of an emergency, someone with experience should be on board. As a qualified pilot certified on both commercial and military aircraft, Isaacman’s history makes him a great candidate for that position.
Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, said the mission aims to use the SpaceX Dragon capsule currently docked for this flight at the International Space Station, and that it has the approval and support of NASA for the mission.
SpaceX announced recently that once it was rated for human flight by NASA, it would be looking to host private missions with the Dragon. Now we know when the first dedicated private mission is looking to take off, and it might also beat out the door other private space tourism efforts, including the suborbital spaceplane day tours of Virgin Galactic.
