Commander places bets as capsule orbits earth six times

Billionaire Jared Isaacman wagered $US4000 on the Philadelphia Eagles to win the Super Bowl.

The Inspiration4 mission after blast off from the Kennedy Space Centre. Picture: AFP

The first all-civilian crew to orbit the Earth travelled nearly six times around the planet during the mission of Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.

The four-person crew of the Crew Dragon capsule made history on Thursday when a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. “The @Inspiration4x crew is healthy, happy, and resting comfortably,” SpaceX tweeted on Thursday.

The mission is made up of Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant; Jared Isaacman, a billionaire businessman who is also the commander; Chris Sembroski, an aerospace engineer; and Sian Proctor, a geoscientist.

The team did scientific ­research and ate before going to bed. Mr Isaacman placed two sports bets, including $US4000 on the Philadelphia Eagles to win the Super Bowl.

“After the crew wakes up today, they will conduct ­additional research and get their first look out of Dragon’s ­cupola!” SpaceX added on Twitter.

The cupola is a protruding, dome-shaped window that gives the crew a unique view of the surroundings. At a height of 580km above Earth, the crew is in a orbit higher than the International Space Station. The crew will travel around the Earth at around 27,350km/h. Their capsule is expected to return off the Florida coast on Saturday.

Mr Musk took to social media to say he had spoken to the crew. “All is well,” he said.

Mr Musk added that missions including Inspiration4 were ­designed not only to help advance spaceflight but to show that anyone can go into orbit and space. The other objective for the mission includes raising $US200m for child cancer research.

The Wall Street Journal