Who are SpaceX’s civilian astronauts, what are their roles and how will they land?
Four amateur astronauts are due to spend about three days in orbit in a world first, after they blasted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Wednesday evening.
The Inspiration4 mission, backed by SpaceX, was organised by entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, who is also one of the passengers.
They are the first all-civilian crew ever to circle the Earth from space.
During their trip, those on board will carry out a series of science experiments before returning home.
So who are the four crew members, how did they get there and what will happen in the next 72 hours or so.
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A giant leap in commercial space travel
Who are the amateur astronauts?
The four people aboard the Dragon capsule are Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski, and Dr Sian Proctor.
Mr Isaacman is the man behind the mission, and paid an undisclosed sum to get the project off the ground.
The 38-year-old made his money with a payment processing company – like SpaceX head Elon Musk – and now also operates a private air force.
Jared Isaacman. Pic: Inspiration4/John Kraus
An experienced pilot, he wants the journey to raise awareness for St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
The other three members of the crew were selected according to Mr Isaacman’s conditions.
Hayley Arceneaux, 29, is an employee of St Jude’s, and had cancer during her childhood.
Taking someone from the hospital was a condition from Mr Isaacman.
Ms Arceneaux, a physician’s assistant, is the first person to travel to space with a prosthesis – part of her right femur was replaced by a metal rod during a bone cancer battle at the age of 10.
Dr Proctor, 51, is an entrepreneur and trained pilot herself.
She won her seat through a competition based on a set of business-related tasks.
The four space tourists have defined roles. Pic: Inspiration4/John Kraus
The scientist previously applied for NASA‘s astronaut programme but was unsuccessful – but is now in space.
Last up is Chris Sembroski, 42, a US Air Force veteran who now works for Lockheed Martin.
He was selected from a lottery of people who donated to St Jude’s – a competition which received around 72,000 entries.
What are their roles?
The four space tourists have defined roles, according to their backgrounds.
They have been branded leadership, hope, prosperity and generosity.
Mr Isaacman is leadership, and he will be the mission commander in charge of the operation.
Hope is Ms Arceneaux, who will act as medical officer and will help with experiments being carried out – many of which are medically based.
Dr Proctor unsuccesfully applied to be a NASA astronaut. Pic: Inspiration4/John Kraus
Dr Proctor is prosperity and the mission pilot. She will support Mr Isaacman.
Generosity is represented by Mr Sembroski, who is the mission specialist and will help “manage payload, science experiments, communications to mission control and more”.
What will they do?
Most of the experiments being carried out by the crew are “to increase humanity’s knowledge on the impact of spaceflight on the human body”.
SpaceX, the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and the Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City will analyse the data collected.
How is the ship controlled?
The crew are aboard a Dragon capsule, a reusable pod developed by SpaceX.
It can seat up to seven people, and has been to the International Space Station 25 times – 10 of which were repeat journeys.
The Dragon capsule has room for seven people and solar panels to provide power
It is capable of carrying 365lbs (166kg) of cargo, which is being used for scientific equipment and crew essentials on this journey.
Solar panels on the outside of the craft are used to generate power for the capsule and crew.
The touchscreen control panels in the capsule allow the crew to monitor telemetry
The vessel is largely automatically controlled, with a set of large touch screens instead of the traditional-looking dashboard of buttons, levers and toggles for the pilots to observe.
The pilots can also take control of the capsule with the touchscreens.
Sixteen Draco thrusters are used to direct the vehicle after it separates from the take-off rocket, and it has a set of parachutes for landing.
How are they getting back?
A splashdown of a Dragon capsule. Pic: NASA
After the orbiting is complete, the capsule will head back to Earth.
According to the official plan, this will culminate in a “soft water landing” off the coast of Florida.
After re-entering our planet’s atmosphere, two “drogue” parachutes are deployed, before four main canopies are released.
The crew and vessel will then be retrieved from the water.
At least 51 people have died after heavy rain caused flash flooding, with water bursting from the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas.
The overflowing water began sweeping into Kerr County and other areas around 4am local time on Friday, killing at least 43 people in the county.
This includes at least 15 children and 28 adults, with five children and 12 adults pending identification, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a news conference.
In nearby Kendall County, one person has died. At least four people were killed in Travis County, while at least two people died in Burnet County. Another person has died in the city of San Angelo in Tom Green County.
People comfort each other in Kerrville, Texas. Pic: Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP
Large piles of debris in Kerrville, Texas, following the flooding. Pic: Reuters//Marco Bello
An unknown number of people remain missing, including 27 girls from Camp Mystic in Kerr County, a Christian summer camp along the Guadalupe River.
Rescuers have already saved hundreds of people and would work around the clock to find those still unaccounted for, Texas governor Greg Abbott said.
But as rescue teams are searching for the missing, Texas officials are facing scrutiny over their preparations and why residents and summer camps for children that are dotted along the river were not alerted sooner or told to evacuate.
AccuWeather said the private forecasting company and the National Weather Service (NWS) sent warnings about potential flash flooding hours before the devastation, urging people to move to higher ground and evacuate flood-prone areas.
Debris on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt. Pic: AP Photo/Julio Cortez
An overturned vehicle is caught in debris along the Guadalupe River. Pic: AP
The NWS later issued flash flood emergencies – a rare alert notifying of imminent danger.
“These warnings should have provided officials with ample time to evacuate camps such as Camp Mystic and get people to safety,” AccuWeather said in a statement that called Texas Hill County one of the most flash-flood-prone areas of the US because of its terrain and many water crossings.
But one NWS forecast earlier in the week had called for up to six inches of rain, said Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.”It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw,” he said.
Officials said they had not expected such an intense downpour of rain, equivalent to months’ worth in a few short hours, insisting that no one saw the flood potential coming.
One river near Camp Mystic rose 22ft in two hours, according to Bob Fogarty, meteorologist with the NWS’s Austin/San Antonio office. The gauge failed after recording a level of 29.5ft.
A wall is missing on a building at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas. Pic: AP/Julio Cortez
Bedding items are seen outside sleeping quarters at Camp Mystic. Pic: AP/Julio Cortez
A Sheriff’s deputy pauses while searching for the missing in Hunt, Texas.Pic: AP/Julio Cortez
“People, businesses, and governments should take action based on Flash Flood Warnings that are issued, regardless of the rainfall amounts that have occurred or are forecast,” Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, said in a statement.
“We know we get rain. We know the river rises,” said Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s top elected official. “But nobody saw this coming.”
Judge Kelly said the county considered a flood warning system along the Guadalupe River that would have functioned like a tornado warning siren about six or seven years ago, before he was elected, but that the idea never got off the ground because “the public reeled at the cost”.
A drone view of Comfort, Texas. Pic: Reuters
Officials comb through the banks of the Guadalupe River in Hunt, Texas. Pic: AP/Julio Cortez
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was asked during a news conference on Saturday whether the flash flood warnings came through quickly enough: “We know that everyone wants more warning time, and that is why we are working to upgrade the technologies that have been neglected for far too long.”
Presidential cuts to climate and weather organisations have also been criticised in the wake of the floods after Donald Trump‘s administration ordered 800 job cuts at the science and climate organisation NOAA, the parent organisation of the NWS, which predicts and warns about extreme weather like the Texas floods.
A 30% cut to its budget is also in the pipeline, subject to approval by Congress.
Read more from Sky News:
Elon Musk says he’s created his own political party
Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ passes final hurdle in Congress
Professor Costa Samaras, who worked on energy policy at the White House under President Joe Biden, said NOAA had been in the middle of developing new flood maps for neighbourhoods and that cuts to NOAA were “devastating”.
“Accurate weather forecasts matter. FEMA and NOAA matter. Because little girls’ lives matter,” said Frank Figliuzzi, a national security and intelligence analyst at Sky’s US partner organisation NBC News.
Elon Musk says he has created a new political party – the America Party –
after asking his followers if he should do so in an online poll.
It follows his public falling out with Republican President Donald Trump.
On Friday, the billionaire had asked his followers on X whether a new US political party should be created.
On Saturday evening he wrote on the same platform: “By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.
“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”
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Trump threatens to ‘put DOGE’ on Musk
The world’s richest man made the announcement just one day after President Trump signed a tax-cut and spending bill into law on Friday, which Musk had fiercely opposed.
Musk had previously said we would form and fund a new political party to unseat lawmakers who supported the bill.
From bromance to bust-up
The Tesla boss backed Trump’s election campaign with more than a quarter of a billion dollars, later rewarded with a high profile role running the newly created department of government efficiency (DOGE).
But observers of the two men, both with huge wealth and reputations, wondered how long the bromance would last.
Donald Trump gave Musk a warm send-off in the Oval Office in May. Pic: Reuters
In May Musk left the role, still on good terms with Trump but criticising key parts of his legislative agenda.
After that, the attacks ramped up, with Musk slamming the sweeping tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination” and Trump hitting back in a barbed tit-for-tat.
Trump earlier this week threatened to cut off the billion-dollar federal subsidies that flow to Musk’s companies, and said he would even consider deporting him.
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