The all-civilian crew of the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission safely splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean Saturday night, capping off their historic three day spaceflight around the Earth.
The Crew Dragon capsule, named Resilience, landed off the coast of Florida just after 7:00pm EST.
Splashdown! Welcome back to planet Earth, @Inspiration4x! pic.twitter.com/94yLjMBqWt
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 18, 2021
The four crew members sat patiently inside as it was hoisted onto the deck of a nearby recovery vessel. About one hour later the crew emerged one by one, with 29-year old childhood cancer survivor Hayley Arcenaux being the first one out of the Dragon capsule.
Welcome home @ArceneauxHayley! pic.twitter.com/mz9CidC8ft
— Inspiration4 (@inspiration4x) September 18, 2021
Not only was this the first ever all-civilian crewed spaceflight, it was also a fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a leading pediatric cancer centre in Memphis, Tennessee. Shortly after returning to Earth the team met their fundraising goal of $200 million thanks to a $50 million donation from none other than Elon Musk himself, who announced the generous gift on Twitter.
Count me in for $50M
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 19, 2021
If you would like to donate, visit inspiration4.com/donate.
You can watch the historic return to Earth in the video below.
