SpaceX is launching the first all-civilian orbital flight ever on Sept. 15 in a mission benefiting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
The four civilians are part of SpaceX's private orbital mission, Inspiration4, researching how space affects the human body.
Billionaire tech entrepreneur and pilot Jared Isaacman, St. Jude physician's assistant and pediatric cancer survivor Hayley Arcenaux, data engineer Chris Sembroski and geoscientist, science communicator, and commercial astronaut Sian Proctor will orbit Earth over three days and conduct multiple experiments from space.
Crew members' ECG activity, movement, sleep, heart rate, and rhythm, blood oxygen levels will be measured throughout the flight.
They will also take tests to monitor cognitive and behavioral performance while in space.
This is the first spaceflight for all four crew members.
The crew's goal is to raise $200 million for the children's hospital.
In addition, Isaacman is donating $100 million.
The flight takes off from the Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 15 and will air live on Netflix's YouTube channel.
SpaceX will determine a launch time frame based upon Florida's weather conditions approximately three days before.
Ahead of the launch, Netflix will release a series showing the preparation for the flight.
The first two episodes premiere on Sept. 6, followed by another two episodes on Sept. 13. On Sept. 30, a final episode will premiere on Netflix documenting the crew's return home.
In other space news, there is a bizarre object, which is not a star or a planet, that is rushing through the Milky Way Galaxy, which has left NASA scientists shocked and baffled.
They found it by chance and have been trying to figure out what exactly it is.
However, first, how did they come to name it, of all things, “The Accident”?
Well, it seems it was a chance encounter, an accident, if you will, that actually brought this bizarre object in space to their notice when it sort of crept into their photos while they were taking pictures of something else.
In fact, this object, officially named by NASA as this - (WISEA J153429.75-104303.3) which is very much present in our Milky Way Galaxy and there may be more lurking there.
To add to the mystery surrounding the object, it defied NASA scientists efforts to describe it.
Incredibly, it is not a star, and it is not a planet - it is something in between.
What exactly is that? Something unique!
It is being surmised that this is a failed star.
A failed star is called a brown dwarf.
Brown dwarfs sometimes defy characterization.
In effect, brown dwarfs are objects in space that started out as a star but failed to turn themselves on to become a star.
The reason they failed to become a star is that they did not have enough mass to power up nuclear fusion.
However, these are very large in size, some 80 times the size of planet Jupiter.
But this specific bizarre brown dwarf is very hot and it will take millions of years to actually cool down.
The Accident might be 10 billion to 13 billion years old – at least double the median age of other known brown dwarfs, says NASA.
Next in the news - Even after six months, NASA’s tiny helicopter is still flying high on Mars.
While NASA's Ingenuity was only supposed to fly 5 times, the helicopter has completed 12 flights and is not ready to retire just yet.
NASA has now extended its mission indefinitely and will now accompany the rover Perseverance, which is looking for signs of life on Mars.
When the copter reached the Red Planet, it had to survive the glacial cold of Martian nights and keep warmth from solar panels that change its batteries during the day.
Ingenuity, on April 19th however, became the first motorized craft to fly on another planet.
When the helicopter was first launched into space, there were doubts among the team.
Mars has an air density equivalent to only 1% of Earth's atmosphere, which is like flying a helicopter in thin air.
But, since its landing - has flown as high as 39 feet and covered a distance of 1.6 miles.
It is now being sent out to scout the way for Perseverance the rover, with a high-res color camera.
Next up on DiscoverZen, we will be discussing, “Why does Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship Belly Flop?”
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