updates
Inspiration4 splashes down after three days
On September 18, 2021, SpaceX said the all-civilian Inspiration4 crew splashed down off Florida at 7:06 p.m. EDT after three days in a 575-kilometer orbit.
Topics: space-civilization
This page is an original Muskularity summary. It does not republish SpaceX’s full post. Figures are the company’s statements on the cited date unless another primary link is named.
Summary
Dragon and the Inspiration4 crew, which SpaceX called the first all-civilian mission to orbit, splashed down off Florida at 7:06 p.m. EDT on September 18, 2021. The ship left a 575-kilometer circular orbit with phasing burns, dropped its trunk, deorbited, and used two drogue parachutes and four main parachutes. The mission had lasted three days.
Crew as named: commander Jared Isaacman, founder of Shift4 Payments; medical officer Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude and a pediatric cancer survivor; mission specialist Chris Sembroski, an Air Force veteran and data engineer; mission pilot Sian Proctor, a geoscientist and pilot. The flight was announced the previous February as a target for the fourth quarter of 2021.
Key facts
| Fact | Label |
|---|---|
| Splashdown September 18, 2021, 7:06 p.m. EDT, off Florida | Company mission report |
| Three days, departing a 575 km orbit | Company mission report |
| Crew: Isaacman, Arceneaux, Sembroski, Proctor | Company crew list |
Why it matters
Inspiration4 is the commercial-crew proof that sits beside NASA rotations: a paying commander and three seats that were not a station expedition. Isaacman is the same flyer who later announces Polaris.
On this site
Sources
- SpaceX update, September 18, 2021 — Grade A, company post
- Inspiration4 site linked from the post — Grade A, mission page
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