Inspiration 4 flight

Beeker · 02-09-2021 7:32pm #1

SpaceX-introduces-final-members-of-all-civilian-Inspiration4-crew.jpg

First all "civilian" spaceflight. Launching September 15 on a Space X Falcon 9 aboard the Crew Dragon. Three days in space at an orbital altitude of over 500 km, higher that the ISS and the highest human flight since the last Hubble servicing mission by the Shuttle in 2009. This Dragon has a new glass bubble cupola instead of a docking adapter which should give some stunning views of the Earth.

JupiterKid · 07-09-2021 2:28pm

This sounds great and I wish them all well in their first space flight and orbital mission - but why isn't Elon Musk himself going up as well?

Perhaps all the negative commentary on Branson and Bezos going up this Summer made Musk consider his first space jaunt to be more "low key."

Or is he scheduled to take another flight after this one?

Cookiemunster · 07-09-2021 3:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117858887#Comment_117858887

Despite the backlash against all three, I've never seen Musk in the same way as the other two. He seems more intersested in getting the technology right for getting to Mars rather than going on a joyride.

Shlippery · 07-09-2021 3:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117858887#Comment_117858887

Yea, Mars is his goal! Interplanetary species!

Must watch the Netflix series on this, exciting stuff

Quantum Erasure · 08-09-2021 3:54pm

This Dragon has a new glass bubble cupola instead of a docking adapter which should give some stunning views of the Earth.

i was wondering would you be able to see the 'whole' earth from there, or would it be too big in the sky to see it all, it takes up about 140 degrees field of view from the height of the ISS,

https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/9128/earth-angular-size-looking-from-the-iss

'The horizon is visible, though difficult to see, as confirmed by astronaut Ed Lu: "When I look out a window that faces straight down, it is actually pretty hard to see the horizon—you need to get your face very close to the window."'

its only about 5 degrees smaller in the sky from another 140 km up, so according to the link above 'you won't see the full Earth disk in VR, and you likely won't see it if you were in space using your real eyes either, You will have to move your head or eyes slightly from side to side and up and down to see the full disk.'

Capt'n Midnight · 09-09-2021 12:25am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117858887#Comment_117858887

He's booked on one of the Virgin ones isn't he ?

Real space flight is dangerous as every gram counts, sub orbital can have way higher margins. And SpaceX has already done humans to the ISS. And cars to mars and 90+ booster landings and have the the largest payload capacity of any currently flying rocket.

Bezos' Blue Origin has been in business for 21 years and they have a lot to prove. Here's a list of 100 other companies in the launch business most like Blue Origin haven't gotten to orbit yet. https://spacefund.com/launch-database/

On 23 November 2015 a New Shepard carried a capsule to over 100Km. On 20 July 2021 a New Shepard carried a capsule to over 100Km.

Branson is a pump and dump expert. Builds businesses, gets them profitable and lots of publicity and then sells them and the branding. Records, airlines, cola, internet etc.. He's not bad at the old self publicity, see the balloons and boats

Quantum Erasure · 15-09-2021 7:42pm

think this is kicking off on Spacex channel in a couple minutes,

launch window opens just after 1am our time, for 5 hours

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pv01sSq44w

Itssoeasy · 15-09-2021 9:33pm

No disrespect to the people not named Brandon and bezos in the previous “flights” but this one is different and it’s the real deal and none of the project missions lasted more than a day and it wasn’t until project Gemini that the US orbital missions that went three days in length. Gemini 4 was the first time that a mission went over a day. I don’t know why bezos is still trying as Space X has it locked up IMO. They’ve shown they can do the job and can do it well.

Shlippery · 16-09-2021 9:05am

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1438359359898066944

Enjoyed the build up and watching launch last night! Shame they lost the feed to see the hatch open / cupola but seems they tweeted this overnight! Some view, and above the ISS & Hubble too! Unreal.

looking forward to next updates from the crew. Delighted for them. Gonna be intense watching their return.

Beeker · 16-09-2021 2:24pm

I really enjoyed that buildup and Launch. Such enjoyment and enthusiasm, it was infectious.

Itssoeasy · 16-09-2021 4:57pm

So is there a reason why there’s been no live feed since just after launch which was unbelievable btw and some of the pictures of it from Florida were amazing. The only reason that I think there’s no feed is because there is still one Netflix episode on September 30th which may mean they can’t show anything. I could be wrong and it may be an issue with the cameras.