If you were traveling to space with three buddies, there’s no way you’d forgo the to chance to grab a selfie, right?
The Inspiration4 crew that took the first all-civilian orbital flight last week clearly had a lot of fun during their three-day mission, performing science experiments, taking in the extraordinary views, and, yes, capturing the occasional selfie as a memento of the historic trip.
Our #Inspiration4 crew took many amazing photos in space during their three-day mission, including this out-of-this-world selfie!
Jared, Hayley, Sian, and Chris are back home on Earth, but our team is still fundraising for @StJude. Join that effort: https://t.co/NBUL2e3f4x pic.twitter.com/gerXjLbVLY
— Inspiration4 (@inspiration4x) September 19, 2021
The unique image (above), with Earth offering a dramatic backdrop, was taken through the spacecraft’s all-glass cupola. It’s the first Crew Dragon to incorporate such a feature, and will be the key selling point for future private trips if SpaceX decides to launch a high-end space tourism service.
The all-civilian Inspiration4 mission was the brainchild of entrepreneur and Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman. After watching SpaceX launch its first crewed flight piloted by two professionally trained NASA astronauts in the summer of 2020, Isaacman approached SpaceX CEO Elon Musk about the possibility of taking the first all-civilian trip, telling Musk he would use the mission to launch a fundraising drive for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a treatment and research facility in Memphis, Tennessee.
“If you’re going to accomplish all those great things out in space, all that progress, then you have an obligation to do some considerable good here on Earth, like making sure you conquer childhood cancer along the way,” Isaacman said.
The pair agreed to a deal for an undisclosed sum, and Isaacman went about selecting three other U.S. citizens to join him on the orbital voyage. The four amateur astronauts then started six months of intensive training, culminating in a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Wednesday, September 15.
After three days in an orbit 357 miles (575 kilometers) from Earth, the crew returned home with a splashdown off the Florida coast.
Shortly after getting back, Isaacman said, “It was a heck of a ride for us.”
For more pictures and videos captured during the first all-civilian orbital space mission, be sure to check out Digital Trends’ collection of highlights.
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