SpaceX to send all-amateur crew rocketing into orbit

WASHINGTON－For the first time, SpaceX is due to send on Wednesday a crew made up entirely of complete novices into orbit, without a professional astronaut on board.

The four passengers are supposed to embody the opening-up of space to everyone, giving the mission its name, Inspiration4.

The SpaceX flight has been chartered by US billionaire Jared Isaacman, the 38-year-old founder and CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payments.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon will be flying further than the orbit of the International Space Station.

In addition to Isaacman, who is the mission commander, three people were selected for the voyage via a process that was first advertised at the Super Bowl in February.

Each crew member was picked to represent a pillar of the mission.

Hayley Arceneaux, the youngest crew member, is a childhood cancer survivor who represents the pillar "hope". She will become the first person with a prosthetic to go to space. The 29-year-old works as a physician assistant in Memphis for St. Jude's Hospital, the charitable beneficiary of Inspiration4.

One of the donors secured the "generosity" seat. Chris Sembroski, 42, is a former US Air Force veteran who now works in the aviation industry.

The last seat, "prosperity", was offered to Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old earth science professor who narrowly missed out on becoming a NASA astronaut in 2009. She will be the fourth African American woman to go to space.

The crew's training has lasted months and includes experiencing high G-force on a centrifuge－a giant arm that rotates rapidly.

They have also gone on parabolic flights to experience weightlessness for a few seconds and completed a high altitude, snowy trek on Mount Rainier in the northwestern US.

They spent time at the SpaceX base, though the flight itself will be fully autonomous.

Over the three days in orbit, their sleep, heart rate, blood and cognitive abilities will be analyzed.

Once in orbit, the crew will perform medical experiments with "potential applications for human health on Earth and during future spaceflights", stated the group in media material.

Appearing in a promotional clip for a Netflix documentary series on the mission, Arceneaux said a big part of her motivation was to kindle hope in her cancer patients.

"I'm getting to show them what life can look like after cancer," she said.

Agencies Via Xinhua