TEXAS: SpaceX Inspiration4: How to watch the historic all-civilian launch live today

TEXAS: Hot on the rocket-fueled-heels of the billionaire space race, four “everyday people” are ready to make space history when they strap into a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and go for a three-day joyride around our planet. The Inspiration4 mission, which doubles as a fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Hospital, is scheduled to launch as soon as Wednesday, and you can watch live right here. 

What time is the SpaceX launch? 

The five-hour launch window opens at 5:02 p.m. PT/8:02 p.m. ET. 

All systems and weather are looking good for today’s Falcon 9 launch of Dragon’s first all-civilian spaceflight. Webcast will go live ~4 hours before liftoff https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdK pic.twitter.com/kkSiWcv6qc

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 15, 2021

“All systems and weather are looking good for today’s Falcon 9 launch of Dragon’s first all-civilian spaceflight,” SpaceX tweeted Thursday. The video broadcast, from SpaceX, is scheduled to begin at 12:45 p.m. PT and can be found below.

The spacecraft will get off this rock with an assist from a Falcon 9 rocket leaving from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It’ll be a similar process to how SpaceX launches NASA astronauts, but Inspiration4 won’t be traveling to the International Space Station. 

Inspiration4 is billed as “the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit.” The crew will fly much higher and longer than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos or Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson did on their recent suborbital flights.

Meet the Inspiration4 crew

Billionaire Shift4 Payments founder Jared Isaacman is the commander of the mission, and he’s also funding it. Isaacman is an experienced aircraft pilot. He was a member of the Black Diamond Jet Team, a civilian aerobatic team, and has flown in over 100 air shows. That pilot training gave him a solid foundation for learning the ropes of the Dragon spacecraft.

Childhood cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux, aerospace industry professional Chris Sembroski and geoscientist Sian Proctor make up the rest of the crew. Arecenaux was treated at St. Jude and now works at the hospital as a physician assistant. 

Sembroski was once a US Space Camp counselor, and also served in the US Air Force. Proctor has experience as an “analog astronaut” participating in simulated space missions on Earth. She will have the chance to put “real astronaut” on her resume.