Splashdown! On Saturday, September 18, the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule safely landed in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Florida coast. It marked the end of the historic Inspiration4 mission. It was the first-ever spaceflight to orbit Earth without any professional astronauts.
The four-person crew had blasted off on September 15, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Their capsule reached an altitude of 366 miles above Earth — higher than the International Space Station — and circled Earth for three days.
SpaceX hopes the mission will help make space travel possible for everyone, not just trained astronauts. Another goal of Inspiration4 was to raise $200 million for cancer research at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Crew member Hayley Arceneaux (AR-seh-noh) works at the hospital and is a survivor of childhood cancer.
“I just want you all to know that we’re doing this for you,” she told St. Jude patients during a video call from space.
By the time the crew splashed down, the mission had raised $160 million for St. Jude. SpaceX founder Elon Musk later tweeted that he would donate $50 million, pushing the amount raised to $210 million.