SpaceX to conduct first ever all-civilian trip to space

SpaceX, the private space transportation company led by Elon Musk will make history once again. They will conduct the first ever civilian space flight.

In October 2021, a crew of four people will embark in orbit on the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft. The crew, led by billionaire pilot Jared Issacman, who financed the mission, will be joined by three lucky winners of a raffle contest. Anybody can enter the raffle, but entries cost anywhere from $10 to $50,000 depending on how many times you want to enter your name in the raffle. The winners of the raffle will represent various organizations for charitable causes, such as St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, and Shift4 Payments as an entrepreneurial ambassador. 

Some concerns are rising from not just the astronomical community but the public as well due to the lack of experience the winners may have. Well, SpaceX has taken those concerns seriously. Before the mission, they will provide the civilians with training. They will be trained in simple astrophysics concepts, such as orbital gravitation, orbital mechanics, microgravity, and zero gravity. They will also receive emergency preparedness training in case something were to happen while in orbit.

When the time comes for the crew to embark in October, they will partake in a multi-day journey in space. They will be orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes during those days. After the mission is completed, they will re enter Earth’s atmosphere where they will “land” in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Florida, where then they will complete the historic mission.

All in all  the once in a lifetime opportunity is here. For either $10 or $50 (depending on how much you want to go to space), you can orbit the Earth for days.