TEXAS: SpaceX Inspiration4: How to watch the historic all-civilian launch live today

TEXAS: Hot on the rocket-fueled-heels
of the billionaire space race, four “everyday people” are ready to
make space history when they strap into a SpaceX
Crew Dragon capsule and go for a three-day joyride around our planet. The Inspiration4 mission, which doubles as a
fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Hospital, is scheduled to launch as soon as
Wednesday, and you can watch live right here. 

What time is the SpaceX launch? 

The
five-hour launch window opens at 5:02 p.m. PT/8:02 p.m. ET. 

All systems and weather are looking good for today’s Falcon 9 launch of
Dragon’s first all-civilian spaceflight. Webcast will go live ~4 hours before
liftoff https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdK pic.twitter.com/kkSiWcv6qc

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September
15, 2021

“All
systems and weather are looking good for today’s Falcon 9 launch of Dragon’s
first all-civilian spaceflight,” SpaceX
tweeted Thursday. The video broadcast, from SpaceX, is scheduled to
begin at 12:45 p.m. PT and can be found below.

The
spacecraft will get off this rock with an assist from a Falcon 9 rocket leaving
from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It’ll be a similar process to how
SpaceX launches NASA astronauts, but Inspiration4 won’t be traveling to the
International Space Station. 

Inspiration4
is billed as “the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit.” The
crew will fly much higher and longer than Amazon
founder Jeff Bezos or Virgin Galactic
founder Richard Branson did on their recent suborbital
flights.

Meet the Inspiration4 crew

Billionaire
Shift4 Payments founder Jared Isaacman is the commander of the mission, and
he’s also funding it. Isaacman is an experienced aircraft pilot. He was a
member of the Black Diamond Jet Team, a civilian aerobatic team, and has flown
in over 100 air shows. That pilot training gave him a solid foundation for
learning the ropes of the Dragon spacecraft.

Childhood
cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux, aerospace industry professional Chris
Sembroski and geoscientist Sian Proctor make up the rest of the crew. Arecenaux
was treated at St. Jude and now works at the hospital as a physician
assistant. 

Sembroski
was once a US Space Camp counselor, and also served in the US Air Force.
Proctor has experience as an “analog astronaut” participating in
simulated space missions on Earth. She will have the chance to put “real
astronaut” on her resume.