TEXAS: SpaceX Crew Dragon cupola provides awe-inspiring view of the Earth from space

TEXAS: I’ll give you a few seconds —
maybe a minute or two, if you need — to gaze in astonishment at the view of
Earth from the recently launched SpaceX Crew Dragon.

On
Wednesday, four private citizens blasted off on a
three day sojourn to orbit as part of the Inspiration4 mission,
strapping into a SpaceX Crew Dragon with one heck of an upgrade: the cupola.
The transparent dome that sits at the top of the Dragon capsule will provide
Inspiration4’s crew members with the best views of Earth a budding astronaut
could ever dream of. It’s the first time the cupola has been included on a
Dragon, which usually ferries astronauts or cargo to the ISS and has a docking
port, rather than a window at its apex. 

A short
video, posted to the SpaceX Twitter account hours after launch, shows the
transparent dome of the cupola against a pale, blue marble, the Earth. 

Our
planet basks in the sunlight as the Crew Dragon orbits from a height of 585
kilometers (more than 360 miles), slowly pacing around the orb.

The
Inspiration4 crew members — commander Jared Isaacman, physician assistant and
childhood cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux, aerospace engineer Chris Sembroski
and African American geology professor Sian Proctor — will spend three days in
orbit, giving them plenty of opportunity to duck into the cupola and stare at
the Earth. 

And did
we mention the cupola is right next to Dragon’s toilet? Yep, the view of Earth
should be visible from the Crew Dragon bathroom. Isaacman told Insider the toilet is one of the
few places you can separate yourself from everyone else with a privacy curtain
and it just so happens to have humanity’s best toilet window. “When people
do inevitably have to use the bathroom, they’re going to have one hell of a
view,” he said.

Astronauts
who’ve been to space often talk about a phenomenon known as the “overview
effect” — the idea that seeing the planet from up there changes how you
think about it and the mass of humanity which depends on it. Now that they can
contemplate it while sitting on the can, there could be revelations aplenty at
the end of Inspiration4’s journey.

The
mission lifted off from the Florida coast on Wednesday evening and is the first
mission to launch with four private citizens. It’s expected to roar back to
Earth and land in the Atlantic on Saturday.