The Real 'Private Space Travel' Launched by Musk

Successful Launch of SpaceX Spacecraft Carrying Only Four Civilian Passengers
Three-Day Orbital Journey at 575km Above Earth

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] SpaceX, a private American space exploration company founded by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has successfully launched the first spacecraft carrying only private citizens. This marks the beginning of a true era of private space travel, where people not only get a taste of space but also travel 575 km above the Earth.

On the 15th at 8:02 PM Eastern Time (9:02 AM Korean Time on the 16th), SpaceX launched the ‘Crew Dragon’ capsule carrying four private citizens of the space travel team ‘Inspiration4’ from Kennedy Space Center in Florida using a Falcon rocket.

The spacecraft reached an altitude of 575 km, 160 km higher than the International Space Station (ISS), and then orbited the Earth for three days at a speed of 27,359 km/h, which is 22 times the speed of sound, under SpaceX’s automatic control.

The astronauts will view the Earth from the highest altitude ever reached by humans since the installation and repair of the Hubble Telescope.

The New York Times (NYT) described the four amateur astronauts as embarking on a space adventure unlike any before.

This space journey was initiated by Jared Isaacman, an American IT entrepreneur, as part of a fundraising campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a pediatric cancer specialty hospital. After completing the three-day space trip, the spacecraft is scheduled to return to Earth on the 19th.