SpaceX's 1st tourists homeward bound after 3 days in orbit
The flight is being used to raise $200 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
A SpaceX capsule carrying four space tourists aimed for a splashdown off the Florida coast Saturday evening.
The first all-amateur flight to orbit Earth began three days ago with a launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
The billionaire who paid for the flight, Jared Isaacman, took two contest winners with him, as well as a childhood cancer survivor who’s now a physician assistant at the hospital where she was treated: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
This photo provided by SpaceX shows the passengers of Inspiration4 in the Dragon capsule on their first day in space. They are, from left, Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski and Sian Proctor. SpaceX got them into a 363-mile orbit follo (SpaceX via AP)
INSPIRATION4 LEADER PLACES FIRST-EVER SPORTS BET FROM SPACE
They’re using the flight dubbed Inspiration4 to try to raise $200 million for St. Jude.
Strangers until March, they spent six months training and preparing for potential emergencies aboard the automated Dragon capsule. Once in orbit, they chatted with St. Jude patients, conducted medical tests on themselves, rang the closing bell for the New York Stock Exchange and dabbled in drawing and ukulele playing.
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It will be the first Atlantic splashdown by a returning space crew in more than 50 years. SpaceX’s two previous crew splashdowns, with NASA astronauts, were in the Gulf of Mexico.
SpaceX envisions up to six private flights a year, sandwiched between astronaut launches for NASA to the International Space Station.
"That was a heck of a ride for us, and we're just getting started," Inspiration4 Commander Jared Isaacman said.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted following the landing.
"Congratulations @Inspiration4x!!!" he tweeted.