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Countdown To Inspiration4

The crew of Inspiration4 signs the soot in the Falcon 9 rocket booster that will launch them into space. Photo: Inspiration4 / John Kraus
The crew of Inspiration4 signs the soot in the Falcon 9 rocket booster that will launch them into space. Photo: Inspiration4 / John Kraus

We’re just a day away from the launch window opening of SpaceX’s Inspiration-4 mission. It’s the first all-civilian space mission to orbit, taking four people on a three-day trip to space and back.

It’s also unlike any launch from the U.S. People are leaving the planet, and they’re not NASA astronauts.

We’ll talk with NASA’s head of human spaceflight Kathy Lueders about how NASA’s helping SpaceX with this mission and why she’s not that upset she won’t be in the control room for this private mission.

Then, we’ll continue our conversation with John Kraus, mission photographer for Inspiration4, about how he’s preparing the crew to take their own images from space.

Brendan Byrne is Central Florida Public Media's Assistant News Director, managing the day-to-day operations of the newsroom, editing daily news stories, and managing the organization's internship program. Byrne also hosts Central Florida Public Media's weekly radio show and podcast "Are We There Yet?" which explores human space exploration, and the weekly news roundup podcast "The Wrap."