spacetoday.net: Inspiration4 splashes down

Posted: Sat, Sep 25, 2021, 2:32 PM ET (1832 GMT)
The first private crewed mission by SpaceX came to a successful end Sept. 18. The Crew Dragon spacecraft Resilience splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast from Cape Canaveral at 7:06 pm EDT (2306 GMT), 71 hours after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center. The Inspiration4 mission went well, officials said in a call shortly after splashdown. In a live video event Friday, the four-person crew talked about their experiences on the spacecraft, with activities ranging from biomedical research to taking photos from the cupola installed on the spacecraft in place of a docking mechanism. SpaceX said interest in private crewed flights like Inspiration4 has "increased significantly" recently, and the company thinks it can support up to six Crew Dragon missions a year between NASA and commercial customers.