“Few have come before, and many are about to follow” – Inspiration4 astronauts make history

Four astronauts who have never been to space have embarked on a landmark voyage with a successful launch from the Kennedy Space Center

“Few have come before, and many are about to follow. The door’s open now and it’s pretty incredible,” Inspiration4 commander Jared Isaacman said close to 10 minutes after liftoff, as heard on SpaceX’s livestream.

Only 553 humans have ever been to orbit, and the 4 latest SpaceX astronauts are part of a historic crew, with not one member having ever been to orbit.

Unlike missions which SpaceX flies for NASA, Inspiration4 is not going to the space station.

Instead, the crew will orbit Earth for three days, at a much higher altitude than the International Space Station.

The company landed the Falcon 9 rocket booster on the company’s ocean droneship, and the Crew Dragon spacecraft continued on toward orbit.

This was the third successful landing for this rocket booster.

Here’s what the Inspiration4 crew is bringing to orbit

• Jared Isaacman: A dragon pendant made for Isaacman’s wife and daughters
• Chris Sembroski: Family heirloom pins
• Hayley Arceneaux: A photo of Arceneaux at age 10, when she was fighting bone cancer
• Sian Proctor: A commemorative coin from Guam, where she is from, and rings that belonged to Proctor’s mother and father. Proctor’s father passed away when she was 19 years old