SPACEX
(INSPIRATION 4) RECENT NEWS (WATCH LIVE)!
SpaceX is targeting a five-hour launch window on Wednesday, September 15, opening at 8:02 p.m. EDT (Thursday, September 16 at 00:02 UTC) for launch of the Inspiration 4 mission – the world’s first all-civilian human spaceflight to orbit – aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Approximately three days after liftoff, Dragon and the Inspiration 4 crew will return to Earth and splash down at one of several possible landing sites off the Florida coast.
SpaceX webcast for launch of the Inspiration 4 mission will go live ~4 hours before liftoff.
Inspiration 4 is commanded by Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments and an accomplished pilot and adventurer. Joining him are Medical Officer Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® and pediatric cancer survivor; Mission Specialist Chris Sembroski, an Air Force veteran and aerospace data engineer; and Mission Pilot Dr. Sian Proctor, a geoscientist, entrepreneur, and trained pilot.
(CREDIT: SpaceX.com)
SPACEX STARSHIP FULLY STACKED
Additional Information
Earlier today, engineers with SpaceX ever-so-carefully placed a Starship second-stage rocket atop a Super Heavy booster, resulting in the tallest rocket ever built, albeit a rocket that has yet to leave Earth’s surface.
At 394 feet tall, the newly constructed Starship system is taller than NASA’s Apollo-era Saturn V rocket (362.9 feet) and also NASA’s upcoming SLS rocket when stacked in the Block 2 cargo configuration (365.1 feet). SpaceX CEO Elon Musk proudly displayed images of the impressive structure on Twitter, describing it as “Starship Fully Stacked.”
The booster, BN4, was moved to the orbital launch mount on August 3. A stunning photo shows the bottom of the rocket shortly after all 29 Raptor engines were installed. The top and bottom components of the rocket are both 30 feet (9 meters) wide, with the Super Heavy measuring 230 feet (70 meters) tall and Starship measuring 160 feet (50 meters) tall. CREDIT: Space.com
