TEXAS: Award-winning space photos reveal glory of the cosmos

TEXAS: The crew will conduct health
research experiments during the flight, but the mission will also raise money
for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital,
which specializes in treating childhood cancer. The spacecraft’s payload
includes mission jackets, a ukulele, NFTs
from a variety of artists, plush toys and other items that’ll be auctioned off
as a fundraiser. The Samuel Adams brewery has committed up to $100,000 to St.
Jude in exchange for 66 pounds of space-flown hops to make a special beer.

Why Inspiration4 matters

Space has
typically been the domain of professional astronauts. Some space tourists have
paid high prices to get to orbit, but that sort of tourism is still a rarity.
Inspiration4 hints at the possibilities for the future of the industry. It also
demonstrates how far spacecraft technology has come. The highly automated Crew
Dragon provides a lot of safeguards for its civilian entourage. They’ve trained
extensively for the mission, but it will be a testament to what the technology
is capable of.

Inspiration4
has some strong sentiments on why the mission is important: “Inspiration4, the first
commercial mission to space, may mark the beginning of the next Age of
Exploration.” That’s a lofty concept, but it’s not crazy. We’re living at
time when SpaecX founder Elon Musk is talking
about sending a million people to Mars by 2050. Inspiration4
suggests space could soon be in reach for more people than ever before.

Inspiration4 on Netflix

This may
be one of the most well-documented crewed space missions ever. Netflix is
running the Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to
Space docuseries following the crew from launch to landing. Three
episodes are already available on the streaming service, with more to come.
Netflix is also expected to stream the event live on its YouTube page.

Since
Inspiration4 won’t be docking with the ISS, SpaceX has instead kitted out
the nose of the Crew Dragon with a large,
bowl-shaped window that should provide spectacular views of Earth.
But first they’ll need to get to orbit with a lift from a very powerful rocket.