Population of Humans in Space reaches record-breaking number after SpaceX Inspiration4 Launch

Breaking the previous (off) world-record, the population of Humans in space have reached a mark that was never recorded before. It happened when 4 humans reached the orbit of Earth SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Resilience Spacecraft which is basically part of the Inspiration4 mission. This took the human count to record 14 in space as earlier the highest number was 13.

Who are they?

For now, there are 14 astronauts in three different spacecraft orbiting in space.

And as reported by Space.com, out of 14, seven people are handling the International Space Station. Those are basically astronauts of NASA and are Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, and Mark Vande Hei, Japan’s Akihiko Hoshide, Russia’s cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Oleg Novitskiy, and Thomas Pesquet from European Space Agency.

The three astronauts are from China – Tiangong Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, and Tang Hongbo – orbiting in China’s planned space station as a part of Shenzhou 12 Mission. While the other four are the crew members of Inspiration4 – Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski, and Dr Sian Proctor – orbiting in space in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Resilience Spacecraft.

Number will decline soon

But this number is likely to decline soon as the members of the Inspiration4 crew will return to earth on September 19. Also, astronauts of China (spent 90 days inspace) are returning to earth on September 17 (today).

Not the first time

Earlier many times the population of humans reached 13 in space, reports Space.com. But this is the first time humans make that to count 14. In March 1995, seven astronauts orbited Earth in NASA’s space shuttle Endeavour, six of them orbited on Russia’s Mir space station at that time. In the year 2009 also the International Space Station itself hosted 13 crew members.

Dr. Elliott Bryner, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona says, “The only thing that has been halting us from going to space is cost but as the private launches start the number will further increase in the future. It is still a millionaire game but this time you don’t need to be a superpower country.”