LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — SpaceX’s first all-civilian flight crew was in Las Vegas over the weekend to train for their history-making launch.
The Inspiration 4 crew says it plans to boldly go where few people have gone before and become the first crew of all-private citizens to orbit the earth.
But first, they’ll have to get used to floating.
“One of the things I’m most excited about going to space is feeling that lack of gravity and getting a little taste today is really going to help us whenever we go to space,” Hayley Arceneaux, an Inspiration 4 crew member, said.
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To help with that, the crew enlisted the help of Zero-G, a company specializing in weightless flights. Local pilot Dianna Klein flew the plane to help the crew prepare.
“The crew of Inspiration 4 will get to feel a little bit of what it’s going to be like for 20 seconds at a time for a total of 15 parabolas - 20 seconds of weightlessness each time,” she said.
Klein’s flight was just one part of three months of training the Inspiration 4 crew has gone through so far. She says it’s an honor to play a part in this mission.
“Having that little glimpse of space that we land-lovers usually do not get to see. It’s been such a rewarding experience,” Klein said.
The crew says they see this as a pioneering mission for civilian spaceflight that could open the door for more people to explore the cosmos like never before.
“But at some point or another, everybody is going to have an opportunity to explore among the stars,” Jared Issacman, Inspiration 4 commander, said.
They see their mission as potentially a Wright Brothers moment with not just a desire to fly, but to fly on their own terms.
“Space will not remain the exclusive domain of a handful of countries. It’s going to get opened up,” Isaacman said.
The crew will be launching into space no earlier than Sept. 15 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
